Boris Aprilov

Boris Aprilov

Montage of a photo of Boris Aprilov with his new book in the hand, taken in his home in Sofia 1975, his yacht "Ahasfer" on a trip in the Black Sea 1986, and the surface of the Dead Sea, Israel 1992.
Born Atanas Vassilev Djavkov
(1921-03-21)21 March 1921
Malko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, Europe
Died 10 April 1995(1995-04-10) (aged 74)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Resting place Carmel Hayfa, Israel
Occupation Novelist, short story writer, dramaturge,

Boris Aprilov (Bulgarian: Борис Априлов) (21 March 1921 – 10 April 1995) was a Bulgarian writer, playwright, satirist and humourist, dramaturge, well known for his novels, plays and screenplays, and mostly for his children's literature.

Also known as: Ahasver,[1] Aho, Ahoto, and other aliases in the humorist journal "Sturshel" ("Hornet").

Biography

"Boris Aprilov" is the pseudonym of Atanas Vassilev Djavkov, born 21 March 1921, in the small Bulgarian town Malko Tarnovo, where his parents' families found shelter after the banishment of Bulgarians from the historical Bulgarian lands, left over as Turkish after the Russian-Turkish war – so called Thracian Bulgarians. His fathers Vassil's family lived on welfare in Lozengrad until the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish occupation. His mother Nanka was an analphabet orphan from a peasant family, given at a very young age to a much older war invalid in an arranged marriage.

Soon after Boris Aprilov was born, his family moved to the big seaside town Burgas, where his brother Georgi was born.

Boris Aprilov got his education in Burgas, where since his early school years he started publishing short stories, satiric essays, poetry and prose in local newspapers.

In 1945 Boris Aprilov married Shela (Rachel) Abraham Cohen, born in Burgas (06.12.1918 – 09.02.1996, Tel-Aviv). They met in the Burgas town library, brought together by their shared passion for literature. They lived together until their last days, had two daughters: Djina Vassileva – fine artist, born in Burgas 15 November 1945, and Laura Vassileva[2] – writer, born in Sofia (30 May 1950 – 09.02.1991 Hayfa, Israel).

In 1947 Boris Aprilov was invited by the poet Radoy Ralin to work as a columnist for the satiric journal "Sturshel", and the family moved to the capital of Bulgaria – Sofia, where they remained for the rest of their life.

In 1956, the midst of the cold war, Boris Aprilov traveled to London and Western Europe with his wife. This trip cost him his career as a journalist at "Sturshel".

An anonymous letter from an unknown envier pointed Boris Aprilov out. It said that from a young age "Nasko" had been working as a British spy, that he sang aloud famous hits from English and American movies, and choose to travel to London instead of Moscow. For the communist regime in Bulgaria in those times that was enough. Fortunately Boris Aprilov was warned on time by Chelkash, the leading editor of the Journal, and decided to resign before he was fired. As a result of this incident, Boris Aprilov was blacklisted by the authorities. Unable to find any employment as a journalist or editor, he lived exclusively from his literature work...

From 1959–1963 Boris Aprilov served as a lead dramaturge and screenplay editor in the Bulgarian State circuses.

Between 1977–1980 he served as a lead dramaturge of the Sliven's Theater for Drama, earning the right to a pension.

This sums up his work as an employee.

Boris Aprilov was awarded many prizes and honorable medals by festivals for his work, puppet theater plays, literature and other.

Boris Aprilov, with his wife, spent the last three years of his life in Tel Aviv, Israel, with their daughters, who fled the communist regime three months before its fall.

In 1991 his younger daughter died after a long disease. Shortly after that, Boris Aprilov became sick himself. He died on 10.4.1995, in a Tel-Aviv hospital. His wife also died a few months later in Tel Aviv.

They have two granddaughters and one grandson: from Djina: April – 08.2.1977, Gabriella – 15 August 1982, from Laura: Maxim – 8.12.1983

[*] His beloved book as young boy

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      Laura Vassileva (30 May 1950 Sofia, Bulgaria – 9 February 1991 Hayfa, Israel) is the younger daughter of Boris Aprilov. She had a very successful debut in the genre of Modern stories and Children literature. One of the two short novels she published in the Bulgarian cultural journal "Plamuk" 9/1982 (сп. "Пламък" 9/1982), capture "Debuts" (Дебюти) was reproduced in the Russian journal for culture and art "Литературная газета" in the next year, and got the first prize for foreign short novel out of 12 authors. Her only children's book is "Gold Dust on the Eyelashes" (1983, publisher "Otechestvo" “Отечество"; 2002, publisher "FYUT" "Фют".) Her first radio play "The little green crocodile" received a first prize for radio plays for 1988. She wrote some screenplays for children's TV. She didn't finish any additional works...

      Works

      Published books

      "Lisko" series

      Books for children

      Greatly fascinated by playwright, Aprilov wrote many drama and puppet plays, for both children and adults, many of which have been played abroad. Most popular is the puppetplay "Chimi", played in many theaters around the world for decades. A movie based on it was made, named "Thimi" in DDR.

      Movie Screenplays

      The next movies are made over his screenplays:

      ... aka "The Five from the Moby Dick" – Europe (English title)

      ... aka "Dusk" – Europe (English title)

      ... aka "Flight to the Ropotamo" – Europe (English title)

      There are some cartoons made from his children stories:

      ... aka "Opera for a Hazelnut" – Europe (English title)

      ... aka "Sigh of Relief" – Europe (English title)

      ...aka Chimi.

      Novels and short stories

      many of them published in the cultural journals and newspapers:

      (more to come)

      Awards

      (more to come)

      External links

      (in Bulgarian)

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