Yordan Slaveykov, whose short story Tongue is translated in the anthology QUEER BALKAN, answered a few flash questions.
Could you describe yourself in 3 words?
I could not.
Without summarizing it, what would you say your work in the anthology QUEER BALKAN is about?
Love is stronger than death.
What does the term queer mean to you?
Anger, shame, joy, anger, joy.
And queer literature?
A window through which I am not seen, but a window through which I see the world.
How queer is the literary scene in your country?
Negligibly little.
Why do you write?
The French say, I think, therefore I exist. I say I write, therefore I exist.
What’s the best an the worst writing advice you’ve ever been given?
The best: Keep writing the way you write.
The worst: Keep writing the way you write
What you have been reading lately?
My play in progress “And the Oscar goes to…”
Yordan Slaveykov (1976) is a theatre director and writer. He specialized Acting in Moscow (2008) at the International Summer School for Theatre. His monodrama Victoria has been translated into Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian, Russian and English. In 2021 Victoria was staged in North Macedonia. The Last Step (2015) is Yordan’s first published novel. It received the big award at the international competition for debut literature Yuzhna Prolet (2016) as well as Pencho’s Oak prose award. The novel was also shortlisted for the Peroto national award for contemporary Bulgarian fiction. In 2020 The Last Step went through a second edition. His second published title, the short story collection The Holiday Family, is in the works in Czech (Runa).
