Petar Tchouhov

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Hello!

I’ll try to write a clear and only marginally annoying autobiography.

I was born on June 23, 1961, in Sofia, Bulgaria.

I graduated from high school in the Nadezhda neighborhood of Sofia, where I had been raised by my grandparents; at that time, the suburban frontier of Sofia included only the neighborhoods Nadezhda 1 and 2 (I was in 2), and not the current 6.

I was forced to spend two years and eleven days sporting the not particularly flattering or comfortable uniform of the Bulgarian (then known as “People’s”) Army.  There, however, my time was not completed wasted in the storming of hills; in fact, I met some people who have turned out to be important figures in my life and began to play in the detachment’s rock band, which was known by the strange (yet telling) name “Endless.” While serving in the military, my first publication came out – most probably I will be remembered by generations to come precisely for this piece – the poem “In Lenin’s Tomb,” which appeared in the pages of the People’s Army Newspaper (now known, as you can imagine, as the National Army Newspaper).
Once freed from military service, I began my studies at the National Librarians’ Institute, and to my own amazement, I even managed to graduate.

Later, together with Ventsi Drenikov, a band mate from my army years, I founded (to use a high-falutin’ term!) the group Subdibula. For a number of years the band was connected with Sofia University, which forced us to become intellectuals and personally led me to embark on an extended and detailed program of study in the field of sociology – my sociological studies were so extended, in fact, that it took me ten years to graduate, but hey, there’s no harm in eternal studenthood, right?  During this period we had many concerts in Sofia and around Bulgaria, as well as abroad (once in Prague and once in Kiev). Subdibula released a record as part of the BG rock series (a split LP with the group Orion), followed by a few more albums, but you can find out more details about that on the group’s website www.subdibula.com . All I can say is that this period of my life was one of the most ............... (insert here whatever word you like, as long as it is expresses extremely positive emotions)!

I also played with the well-known Bulgarian pop singer Stanley; I had the opportunity (honor? pleasure?) of messing around on his album “The Path to the Temple,”  I also was the author of some of his later song texts (including “Trance,” “Cold Flower,” and “Child Under the Stars”). Another notorious figure I have worked with is Campbell; we played together in the group Tutaksi and recorded a maxi-single “Nejse (Whatever),” as well as two albums “Biva (Fine)” and “Tui-tsuk Onui-tsuk (This and That).”

And now to quickly recall my literary ordeals.
After my appearance in print in the above-mentioned army publication, I fell silent for a long period and awaited critical acclaim, which, for some strange reason, never came. Thus, I was forced to roll up my sleeves and get down to business.
As of 1993, I began publishing in every possible literary (and other) publication.  In a short span of time, I published a fair number of books: The Garden of Weak Reality (1995), Runes (1998), Pedro’s Mule (1999), The Provinces (2000), Little Days (2002), Snowmen (2003), and Most Likely Never (2004).

The awards began to roll in, but I’ll mention only a few here: The “Development” Prize for New Bulgarian Novels (2003), Grand Prize in First Annual SMS Poetry Contest (2004), and the prestigious Slavejkov Prize for poetry (2005).

I’ve taken part in and continue to take part in many literary performances, workshops and other forums intended to popularize literature, including the  British Council’s performance-project “Literature in Action,” which brought together British and Bulgarian writers in 2002; a seminar organized by the British Council for teaching creative writing at New Bulgarian University in 2004; and the “Litour” initiative in 2005, among others.

I am also the founder and organizer of the “Troubadour Duels” project, begun in November of 2005, which stages poetic duels every month at the “White Glove” Club at the Altera Art Center.

Since 2005 I have been the director of the “Damaskin” literary club at the Peter H. Beron Community Center in Sofia.

In July of 2006 I taught a course “Short Literary Forms” at the Summer School for Creative Writing, organized by New Bulgarian University in Sofia. Since August of 2005 (together with artist Maritsa Kolcheva) I have been the author of the comics series “Guvko and Mruvko” in the newspaper Trud. 

I also write haiku in English, and have published in some the most prestigious hardcopy as well as online English-language haiku publications, including: Haiku Presence (England); Frogpond (USA); Ginyu (Japan); World Haiku (Japan), Mainichi Daily News (Japan), Full Moon (USA), Simply Haiku (USA), Roadrunner (USA), Haikuworld (USA), tinywords (USA), among others.

My work has also been included in many anthologies published in Bulgaria and abroad, and has been translated into English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Czech, Hungarian, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, and Macedonian. I am a member of the Association of Bulgarian Writers, the Bulgarian Haiku Club, the Sofia Haiku Club, the International Haiku Association, and Music Author.

I hope I haven’t bored you too much! If you think this bio is way too long, then next time you want to find out about me, you’d best check out the shorter and sweeter versions available on various literary sites (links to these sites can be found on the “links”page of this website). If you still can’t get enough and want more information, you’ll have to write me at petargologan.net  
I’ll do my best to satisfy your curiosity.

Ciao for now and have a good day, week, weekend or whatever it is where you are!

Gologan © 2006. Last updated: 7 August 2006