The writer Georgi Gospodinov received the Special Award of Sofia Municipality for Outstanding Achievements and Contributions to the National Culture

At an official ceremony in the National Theatre on September 16 the mayor of Sofia Mrs Yordanka Fandakova presented Sofia Award for Outstanding Achievements and Contributions to the National Culture to the writer Georgi Gospodinov, an author with an extremely wide range of works and winner of many awards, including the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius - first degree. He writes equally well poems, plays, books, literary mystifications translated into various languages and further teaches essay writing and edits magazines. Extremely rarely a Bulgarian novel is reviewed in leading world media. He is the author of Blind Vaysha - the Bulgarian nomination for the Oscar Awards in 2017. In an unforgettable speech on the Day of Sofia, Georgi Gospodinov outlined the importance of culture and the reason we should preserve it - the children who represent our hopes, faith and love. He sent two important messages – that culture and literature create memory that we should preserve for our children and that memory and culture are the gravity that holds us together in one society. He stated that the award that he received is dedicated to the Bulgarian literature and his generation.