“I have done literary translation because the University of Arkansas, where I did my MFA, was program of creative writing and translation, and it's a very different experience. You're trying to honor the writer. You shouldn't allow yourself, for example, to encounter a sentence that's three lines long and break it up into four smaller sentences.” WritingTryingLongDifferentDoneBreakCreativeHonorProgramCreative WritingTranslations Author:Miroslav Penkov
“I don't find English restrictive, but it brings a level of discipline to my writing that I wouldn't have in Bulgarian. My control of English, however you define it, my ability to work in English, is more limited than in Bulgarian. That means out of necessity I have to develop a style that goes for clarity of expression which I may not have done otherwise.” WritingMeanDoneAbilityStyleDisciplineClarity Author:Miroslav Penkov
“In Bulgarian I am much more flowery, the sentences are wilder. In English out of necessity I try to be clear and disciplined. I realized by writing in English there is so much more to writing a good story than the style.” WritingTryingStyleI RealizedWilder Author:Miroslav Penkov
“When I was writing in Bulgarian, I could hide behind beautiful prose.” WritingBeautifulProse Author:Miroslav Penkov
“Helpful to me over the years was some of Ernest Hemingway's writing, for example A Farewell to Arms. You have characters who speak Italian or Spanish to each other. It's been helpful to me to study and try to emulate that in that way.” WritingTryingCharacterSpeakStudyHelpfulItalianFarewell Author:Miroslav Penkov
“I never wanted to write about Bulgaria. When I was still living there I did my absolute best to never write a story with a Bulgarian character with a Bulgarian name, and only after I came to the US and I was far away and missing it a great deal did I realize that writing about could be my way of returning back home. I think it was only through my writing that I fell in love with the country and with the history.” ThinkingWritingCountryCharacterHomeRealizingMissingMy WayFar Away Author:Miroslav Penkov
“Quiet, moving, masterfully crafted. Such are the nine stories in Venus in the Afternoon. Tehila Lieberman writes with precision, restraint, with a compassionate heart. She inhabits her characters, young or old, men or women, honestly, but without judgment, until they rise off the page and stand before us breathing and alive. New York, the Atacama desert, Amsterdam or Cuzco in Peru, the settings in Venus in the Afternoon are just as varied as the lives which they contain. A wonderful collection, one that will stay in your mind long after you have bid it goodbye.” MenWritingMindHeartLongCharacterStoriesMovingYoungAliveWonderfulNew YorkQuietJudgmentPagesHonestlyNineSettingSettingsDesertBreathingCollectionsGoodbyeOld ManCompassionateAfternoonRestraintPrecisionVenusAmsterdamPeru Author:Miroslav Penkov
