Center for Jewish-Bulgarian Cooperation “Alef” and the Burgas Writers’ Association marked the Day of the salvation of Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust – March 10 with a literary workshop in which high school students from Burgas took part. High shcool students from English Language School “Geo Milev”, German Language High School “Goethe”, Foreign Languages High School “Vasil Levski”, Mathematics And Natural Sciences High School “Acad. Nikola Obreshkov”, Professional High School of Electrical Engineering and Electronics “Konstantin Fotinov”, Professional Trade High School-Burgas, National School of Music and Performing Arts “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” and 134 school ” Dimcho Debelyanov ”- Sofia, together with their Hebrew teacher Stella Dinkova participated live and online in the literary workshop under the motto “Memory as salvation”.
The technology of fiction was presented to the young authors by the writers Milka Ivanova, Elka Vasileva and the poet, publicist and publisher Rumen Leonidov, who as a member of the jury of the International Literary Youth competition organized by Alef gave guidelines to young authors wishing to participate in it.
Mrs. Vessela Paldamova – director of 134 Sofia University – Sofia, Bulgarian language and literature teacher, joined the discussed topic for transformation of history into a literary work online. She focused specifically on the process of creationg a literary work and recalled how a narratve is structured.
Alberta Alkalay, president of the Center “Alef””, explained how the creative workshop can help those who want to take part in the International Literary Youth competition “Whoever saves one human life, saves an entire universe”. She took the ribbon of memory back and made those present sympathize with the events of 1940-1943 and the persecution of the Jews, when the humanity and valor of Bulgarian society were put to a test. Such key moments in history, which should not be forgotten, rely exclusively on art. It is the stories, inspired by historical events and personalities, that bring them out of oblivion and make them accessible. And the contribution of young authors in this through their participation in the competition is significant, said Ms. Alkalay.
The fiction writer Milka Ivanova shared her impressions of the awarded narratives in the seventh edition of the competition which was published in Alef’s literary collection of “I am one of them – the Bulgarian righteous among the nations.” She gave recommendations to young artists on how to combine historical justice with fiction.
After receiving answers to their questions, the students left the “Creation Class” with homework. Each of them received key information about different Bulgarian “saviors” to help them develop their literary works and to participate with them in the competition, which this year is on the theme “I will tell you about my savior.”
The full record of the creative class can be found here: