Yordan Radichkov

Yordan Dimitrov Radichkov (; 24 October 1929 – 21 January 2004) was a Bulgarian writer and playwright.

Literary critics Adelina Angusheva and Galin Tihanov called him "arguably the most significant voice of Bulgarian literature in the last third of the 20th century". Some literary critics have referred to him as the Bulgarian Kafka or Gogol. In 2007, a monument dedicated to him was officially opened at the garden of the former Royal Palace, nowadays National Art Gallery in Sofia city centre.

Early life He was born as Yordan Dimitrov Radichkov on 24 October 1929 in a poor family in the village of Kalimanitza, Montana Province, Bulgaria. Radichkov began his career in 1951 as Vratsa regional correspondent for the Narodna mladezh (National Youth) newspaper and editor (1952–1954) for the same paper. Over the years Radichkov has gained popularity and recognition in Bulgaria and the international community, including a Nobel Prize nomination.

Radichkov's 1966 script for the film Goreshto pladne (Hot Noon) was a story about humanity's efforts to save a trapped boy from drowning in a surging river and was a huge success for the writer. Baruten bukvar (Gunpowder Primer), his 1969 novel, was the first in his homeland to talk about socialism through a powerful blend of profanity, fantasy and folkloric wisdom rather than simple idealization. The award-winning Posledno liato (The Last Summer, 1974) is a parable of a man trying desperately to stay faithful to his own identity in a dynamically changing world.

He also wrote a number of domestically and internationally acclaimed children's books. Of these Nie Vrabchetata (We, the Sparrows) has gained particular popularity in Bulgaria.

Radichkov often illustrated his works with his own abstract drawings that have become another hallmark of his artistic presence.

Radichkov is particularly famous for his language and his use of dialectisms. Critics have stated that "the real main character in the work of Radichkov is the word". Probably the greatest manifestation of Radichkov's impact on Bulgarian culture is the fact that his work introduced a number of neologisms and expressions in the every-day Bulgarian language.

Awards and public recognition Radichkov has been awarded a wide number of awards for literature, theatre, and film, both in his homeland and abroad, among them the Order of Stara Planina (the highest order of Bulgaria, 2003), a finalist for the Italian Grinzane Cavour Prize (1984) and the prize of the International Academy of the Arts in Paris (1993). A founding member, and first president (1984–1991) of the Bulgarian-Swedish Association for Friendship, he received the Swedish national Order of the Polar Star (1988).

He was a prominent figure in Bulgaria's public life – a member of the Union of Bulgarian Writers since 1962, he was elected MP for the Bulgarian Socialist Party in 2001, but quickly resigned in disagreement and spent the last years of his life increasingly withdrawn from politics.

Radichkov's works have been translated in more than 30 languages and in 2001 he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Honour Radichkov Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Yordan Radichkov.