Valeri Petrov
Valeri Petrov, was a popular Bulgarian poet, screenplay writer, playwright and translator of paternal Jewish origin.
Early life
Born in the capital Sofia to lawyer Nisim Mevorah and high-school French teacher Mariya Petrova, Valeri Petrov studied at the Italian School in the city, finishing in 1939. He graduated in medicine from Sofia University in 1944.Languages
Valeri Petrov was fluent in Bulgarian, English, Russian, German, Italian and Spanish. His English language was at such a high level that he translated the complete works of Shakespeare. He probably knew also French and Hebrew.Poet and playwright
When he was 15, Petrov published his first independent book: the poem Ptitsi kam sever. In this and subsequent publications he used his non-Jewish mother's surname or other pseudonyms because of the pro-Nazi regime in Bulgaria at the time. He later wrote the poems Palechko, Na pat, Juvenes dum sumus, Kray sinyoto more, Tavanski spomen and the series Nezhnosti.In 1978, Petrov wrote the children's musical Button for Sleep. He is particularly esteemed for the quality of his translation of the entire works of Shakespeare - the authoritative rendition of the Bard in Bulgarian.
Journalist
In the autumn and winter of 1944, when Bulgaria switched sides and joined the Allies in the Second World War, Valeri Petrov worked first at Radio Sofia and then as a wartime writer with the newspaper Frontovak. Following the war, he was among the founders of the humoristic newspaper Starshel and its assistant editor-in-chief. He served as a doctor in a military hospital and in the Rila Monastery.Between 1947 and 1950, Petrov worked in the Bulgarian legation in Rome as a press and cultural attache. During the time he travelled to the United States, Switzerland and France, delegating to various forums.
He was also an editor in a film studio and in the Balgarski pisatel publishing house. He served as a deputy in the Grand National Assembly. Since 2003, he was an academician of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Politically, he was a leftist and a socialist since his schooling in the Third Bulgarian Kingdom, through the Communist period, and until his death.
Death
On 27 August 2014, Petrov died from a stroke in a Sofia hospital. He was 94.Works
- 1944 — Naroden Sad, communist odes dedicated to killing people opposing the communist regime
- 1945 — Stari neshta malko po novomu, a book of poetry
- 1956 — screenplay for the film Tochka parva
- 1958 — Kniga za Kitay, travel notes
- 1958 — screenplay for the film Na malkiya ostrov
- 1960 — V mekata esen, a poem; awarded the Dimitrov Award
- 1962 — Improvizatsiya, a stage play co-written with Radoy Ralin
- 1962 — Poemi, a collection of poems
- 1962 — screenplay for the film Slantseto i syankata
- 1965 — Kogato rozite tantsuvat, a stage play
- 1965 — Afrikanski belezhnik, travel notes
- 1966 — screenplay for the film Ritsar bez bronya
- 1970 — Na smyah, satirical poems
- 1970-1971 — translations of Shakespeare's Comedies, two volumes
- 1973-1974 — translations of Shakespeare's Tragedies, two volumes
- 1977 — Byala prikazka
- 1978 — Kopche za san
- 1981 — screenplay for the film Yo Ho Ho - later adapted into the 2006 film The Fall
- 1986 — Pet prikazki
- 1990 — Selected Works, two volumes