Balgarianovinite.com Bulgarian children’s writer Petya Kokudeva was a guest at the Bookfest International Book Fair in Bucharest on Friday. Together with Romanian author Florin Voican, moderator Domnica Drumea – an editor at Artur Publishing House – and translator and journalist Mirela Petrescu, she presented her book “Lupo and Tumba” in its Romanian translation.
Bulgaria is this year’s guest of honour at the International Book Fair in Bucharest. The event opened on June 3 and will run until June 7 at the Romexpo exhibition centre in the Romanian capital. Admission is free.
The Bulgarian writer surprised the audience by addressing them with a few sentences in Romanian. “My Romanian is practically at a baby level,” she joked, drawing applause, and then recounted how the idea for the book came about and what inspired her to create the characters.
“In a small art shop in Sofia, there was a painting of a very sad raccoon wearing a bow tie. I really liked that painting, but it cost BGN 200, which I did not have at the time. And secretly, for my birthday, my colleagues gave me that painting as a gift. I hung it up at home, and my inner desire was to make that raccoon laugh, to cheer it up, so I created a cheerful, mischievous raccoon. The most mischievous and cheerful character around me is my mother; she very often uses the word tumbak – belly in Bulgarian. My mother loves to eat and says, ‘My tumbak is very happy,'” explained the Bulgarian artist.
“Obviously, the book was born in the tumba, in Petya’s mother’s belly,” Voican joked.
When asked by the moderator why she chose to write children’s books, Kokudeva replied that when she was 20, she tried writing for adults. “But everything related to presenting books for adults seemed stifling and serious to me. My debut book had the subtitle ‘Children’s Poems for Adults.’ And the bookstores did not know where to place my book. Then I started receiving natural and spontaneous invitations from children, and that is how my journey began. That is how I started writing for children,” the author shared.
Voican, for his part, shared that for him, fairy tales are a natural path, a way to connect with reality. “They are like an alternative world and, ultimately, a way of being,” he added.
Petya Kokudeva is a Sofia-based writer of nine books. She is the recipient of major national literary awards. “Lupo and Tumba” has been translated into six languages, including German, Persian, Croatian, and Turkish. Bulgarian Children’s Writer Petya Kokudeva Presents Book in Romanian at Bucharest Book Fair 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-06-05 13:44:07 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law