Pavel Vezhinov(1914-1983)

Pavel Vezhinov is a literary pseudonym of Bulgarian writer and screenwriter Nikola Delchev Gugov. He was MP is the 7th National Assembly. Pavel Vezhinov was born on November 9, 1914 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He grew up in the "Draz" neighborhood. He graduated from First Male High School. In the early 1930's he cooperated in magazines and newspapers "Brimstone", "RLF", "Shield", "Art and Criticism", etc. In the period 1938-1944, he studied philosophy at Sofia University. In 1938 he released his first collection of short stories "Street Without Pavement" and in 1943 - "Days and Nights". He was a member of Communist Party since 1944. Since the autumn of 1944 he participated in World War II as a correspondent and editor of the newspaper "Veteran." He embodied impressions of the life of the Bulgarian army in a series of stories in the novels "Zlatan" and "Second Company"; the last work gained considerable popularity and was republished several times. In 1950 and 1951 he received Dimitrov's Prize for his front-line work. From 1947 to 1951 Pavel Vezhinov was a deputy editor of the satirical newspaper "Hornet"; from 1951 - of magazine "September"; and from 1954 to 1972 he worked in "Bulgarian Cinematography", initially as a writer and later as Deputy Director General. Since 1972 he was an editor of the journal "Contemporary" and member of the Buro of the Steering Council of the Union of Bulgarian Writers. In the 1950's and 1960's Pavel Vezhinov issued numerous crime novels such as "The traces remain" (1954), "An accident on the quiet street" (1960), "Man in Shadow" (1965), "Bats fly at night" (1969), and travelogues from the participation of Bulgarian Olympians around the world - "Flags in stadiums" (1950), "At the Olympics in Helsinki" (1953), "Up to Melbourne by air and sea" (1957). Pavel Vezhinov was the first Bulgarian writer to venture into the fantasy genre. Back in 1956 he wrote the satirical grotesque "Story of a ghost," and in 1965 - short stories "The Blue Butterflies" and "My first day," which in 1968 were included in the eponymous collection. In 1973 he published the fantasy / science fiction novel "The Death of Ajax". In 1963 he published the collection "The boy with the violin," which marks a new and different stage in his work, addressing contemporary moral and psychological themes. This was followed by "Breath of almonds" (1966), "The stars above us" (1966), "Little Adventures" (1970), "Small Family Chronicles" (1979), "I'm Atomic" (1981). The novel "Night with the white horses" (1975) appeared originally in the journal "September". For the novel "The Barrier" (1976) we was again awarded Dimitrov's Prize. In the following years he produced a series of strong works - "The White lizard" (1977), "Blue Stone" (1977), and "The Lake Boy" (1979). The last completed novel by Pavel Vezhinov was "Libra" (1982), which again addressed a range of philosophical and psychological themes. A last novel "Long summer day" appeared in the journal "Contemporary" shortly before his death. The novel "Valley of the Fireflies" remains unfinished. He received the Order of the "People's Republic of Bulgaria" II (1964), title "People's figure of Culture" (1970), Title Hero of Socialist Labor (1974), and the Order "Georgi Dimitrov" (1974). He was a laureate of the Dimitrov's Prize (1950, 1951, 1971 by team, 1976). He died unexpectedly on 20 December 1983.