Balgarianovinite.com Gabrovo shows how an enlightened society can nurture genius, as it did with poet Pencho Slaveykov, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said on Tuesday.
Valchev spoke during a discussion at the BTA National Press Club in Gabrovo marking the 160th anniversary of Pencho Slaveykov’s birth. The event was part of BTA’s Pencho Slaveykov Today initiative. It was moderated by poet, literary scholar and critic Yordan Eftimov.
“We launched this conversation in Tryavna, together with the mayor, in Pencho Slaveykov’s hometown, on the day of his birth, April 27, exactly 160 years ago. The idea was to use the anniversary to discuss Bulgaria’s modernization at BTA’s 33 national press clubs across the country through Slaveykov’s links with each town and city,” Valchev said.
He said it had been difficult to establish direct links between Slaveykov and Gabrovo. “I did not find a poem. Perhaps Assoc. Prof. Eftimov will prove me wrong and say there is a poem about Gabrovo. There is a poem about his father’s native region, which he mourns bitterly and depicts as a sorrowful place. I did not find evidence that he often visited Gabrovo, but it turns out his main connection was through his father,” Valchev said.
That connection, Valchev said, involved the relations between Slaveykov’s father and Vasil Aprilov, and the school Aprilov founded in Gabrovo. “He not only supported the school, but also described it in a short history dedicated to it. Several poems, three in fact, are about Aprilov, about his grave and about the gratitude of Gabrovo’s children to Aprilov,” Valchev said.
He said Slaveykov was shaped by an environment in which people invested in education. “This is a region where people invested heavily in learning and created Bulgaria’s first modern secular high school. When we look for Bulgaria’s modern dimensions in connection with Pencho Slaveykov, the Gabrovo region is precisely such an example,” Valchev said.
“We Bulgarians tend to get bogged down in everyday hardships, to focus on the darker things around us and sometimes to lose sight of the bigger picture,” Valchev said. If society managed to rise “a little higher” and see, in historical perspective, how much this region had achieved and how much it had given Bulgaria, there would be less tension, he said.
Valchev said the aim was to compile the material gathered at the meetings in a special issue of LIK, BTA’s magazine for literature, art and culture. “At the end of the year, we want to bring together these conversations about Bulgaria and modernity from the different perspectives of different places, just as we did three years ago for the 160th anniversary of Aleko Konstantinov, another landmark Bulgarian figure,” Valchev said.
He added that BTA has a joint initiative with Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), 14 Centuries of Bulgaria in Europe, linked to historical anniversaries that invite a reassessment of Bulgaria’s place in Europe. “The anniversary of Pencho Slaveykov is one of those that give us the confidence that Bulgarians are Europeans, that Bulgaria has been Europe for centuries,” Valchev said.
“I am glad there are students from the National Aprilov High School here, because I remember that when I was your age, Pencho Slaveykov was not an author I liked. He is difficult to understand, and even now students seem not to want Pencho Slaveykov to come up in an exam or in the school-leaving exam,” Valchev said.
“It is not easy, but these conversations can actually help you come to love Pencho Slaveykov. He is a person who can be loved, and in your region that seems to be a must,” Valchev added.
The Pencho Slaveykov Today initiative is being held in all 33 BTA national press clubs in Bulgaria. The first discussion dedicated to the poet took place in his hometown of Tryavna on April 27, when the 160th anniversary of his birth was marked.
As part of the initiative, discussions have also been held in Samokov, Kazanlak, Stara Zagora, Kyustendil, Pernik, Haskovo, Kardzhali and Pazardzhik.
The December 2026 issue of LIK will be dedicated to Pencho Slaveykov. In addition to reports from the meetings across the country, it will include specially written texts of 160 words each by 160 people, marking the 160th anniversary of the poet’s birth. BTA Director General Valchev: Gabrovo Shows How an Enlightened Society Nurtures Genius 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-07-07 16:27:39 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