Vera Kirkova

VERA.KIRKOVAWork­ing lan­guages: Por­tuguese, Bul­gari­an

Field of work: Lit­er­ary trans­la­tion

Short bio­graphy: She was born in Sofia and raised in Bud­apest, Hun­gary. She first stud­ied in Rus­si­an school and then gradu­ated from the French Sec­ond­ary School in Sofia (Span­ish lan­guage class). She stud­ied Por­tuguese Philo­logy at Sofia Uni­ver­sity St. Kli­ment Ohrid­ski with second spe­cialty also com­pleted at Sofia Uni­ver­sity – Radio Journ­al­ism. Imme­di­ately after gradu­at­ing with hon­ors she began work­ing as a teach­er of Por­tuguese Lan­guage and Cul­ture at Sofia Uni­ver­sity St. Kli­ment Ohrid­ski. She has been teach­ing, trans­lat­ing and edit­ing books, writ­ing art­icles, par­ti­cip­at­ing in nation­al and inter­na­tion­al con­fer­ences and she is a mem­ber of the Asso­ci­ation of Por­tuguese Speak­ing People in Bul­garia and the Bul­gari­an Trans­lat­ors’ Uni­on. She com­pleted sev­er­al spe­cial­iz­a­tions in Por­tugal (at Lis­bon Uni­ver­sity and the Uni­ver­sity of the Azores) and Brazil (at Uni­ver­sity of Sao Paulo). She is the trans­lat­or of fam­ous Por­tuguese authors who are well-known world­wide. Among them is the hold­er of Nobel Prize for Lit­er­at­ure José Sara­mago, Paulo Coelho, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, Baptista-Bastos, Gra­cili­ano Ramos, Machado de Assis, Igná­cio de Loy­ola Brandão, Fernando Sabino, Már­cia Dens­er and more num­ber of con­tem­por­ary Brazili­an authors pub­lished on the ini­ti­at­ive of the Embassy of Brazil in Bul­garia. She loves to travel the world and is fond of pho­to­graphy. She has pho­to­graphs pub­lished in many prin­ted edi­tions and dozens of inter­views in the media. She is mar­ried with two daugh­ters.

Selec­ted trans­la­tions:

  • Blind­ness by José Sara­mago (Colibri Pub­lish­ing House),
  • The Witch of Por­to­bello by Paulo Coelho (Obsidi­an Pub­lish­ing House), with a prize for trans­la­tion from the Sofia Uni­ver­sity St. Kl. Ohrid­ski,
  • The Manu­script Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho (Obsidi­an Pub­lish­ing House),
  • Aleph by Paulo Coelho (Obsidi­an Pub­lish­ing House),
  • Mak­tub by Paulo Coelho (Obsidi­an Pub­lish­ing House),
  • The Win­ner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho (Obsidi­an Pub­lish­ing House),
  • Brida by Paulo Coelho (Obsidi­an Pub­lish­ing House),
  • Brazili­an stor­ies by Gra­cili­ano Ramos and Machado de Assis (Brazili­an Embassy, Ogledalo Pub­lish­ing House),
  • The Diary of a Magus by Paulo Coelho (Obsidi­an Pub­lish­ing House),
  • Fly Away from Silence (in a team) – Slavy­ani Pub­lish­ing House,
  • More Brazili­an Stor­ies (Embassy of Brazil),
  • Frozen in Winter Per­son by Baptista-Bastos (Pet Plus Pub­lish­ing House),
  • Sud­den light by José Manuel Mendes (Pet Plus Pub­lish­ing House),
  • Con­fes­sions of Lúcio by Mário de Sá-Carneiro (Pet Plus Pub­lish­ing House).

Awards:

  • Award by BUSINESS LADY CLUB for Out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tion to the pro­mo­tion and sup­port of women in soci­ety, polit­ics and busi­ness, 2013;
  • Award for trans­la­tion of the nov­el “The Witch of Por­to­bello” (Paulo Coelho) by Sofia Uni­ver­sity St. Kl. Ohrid­ski, 2008;
  • First Prize in poetry com­pet­i­tion ded­ic­ated to Sza­bó Lőrinc by the Hun­gari­an Cul­tur­al Insti­tute, 2000.

Con­tact: verakirkova@abv.bg