Krassin Himmirsky
Krassin Valchev Himmirsky was a Bulgarian career diplomat, writer, translator, lecturer.
Diplomatic career
Graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in International Relations with Indonesian language. Received a PhD degree in American Literature after defending a thesis on “The Development of the Democratic Traditions in Contemporary American Poetry” in the Academy of Social Sciences in Moscow.As a career diplomat Himmirsky has been assigned at the Bulgarian embassies in:
- Jakarta, Indonesia – as chargé d'affaires a.i., cultural and press attache,
- Washington DC, United States – as chargé d'affaires a.i. and cultural attache,
- Moscow, USSR – as minister plenipotentiary.
Poetry
Krassin Himmirsky has taught Literature, American Studies, Asian Civilizations, Religions and Culture at: Sofia University "St. Kliment. Ohridski", the University of National and World Economy, the New Bulgarian University, Shumen University "Konstantin Preslavski" and the American University in Bulgaria. He is the only Bulgarian lecturer of Indonesian language.Among his publications are books of poetry and fiction:
- “Time Bomb”,
- “Martians”,
- “Looking for Atlantis”,
- “Star Bread”,,
- “Open Up, Sir”,
- “I Believe”,
- “Cambodia”, etc.
Himmirsky has translated into Bulgarian creative writings by American, Canadian, Russian, Armenian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Moldovian, Chuvash and Indonesian authors. Among the authors, he has translated, are: Carl Sandburg, Erskine Caldwell, John Chever, John Updike, Robert Frost, Robert Lowell, William Meredith, Robert Hayden, Denise Levertov, Wendell Berry, Allen Ginsburgh, Roland Flint, Victoria Holt, Pramoedia Ananta Toer, Michail Sespel, Yurii Sahakyan, Oleg Hlebnikov, Valerii Shamshurin, Raisa Sarbi, Porfirii Afanasiev, Utui Tatang Sontani, Anthology of Indonesian poetry, etc.
Member of the unions of Bulgarian writers, translators, journalists, member of the International Slavic Fund, president and member of the Board of the Bulgarian-Indonesian Friendship Association “Nusantara”. He is president of the MGIMO Alumni Association in Bulgaria.
Himmirsky died at the age of 83 in Tbilisi, Georgia on 19 April 2022.