Lyudmila Filipova

Lyudmila Filipova
Born	10 April 1977 Sofia, Bulgaria
Occupation	Novelist and Journalist
Nationality	Bulgarian
Education	Economy
Alma mater	University of National and World Economy
Period	2000 - present
Genre	Fantasy, Historical fiction, Thriller
Notable works	"Anatomy of Illiusions", "The War of the Letters", "Dante's Antichthon", "The Parchment Maze"
Website
ludmilafilipova.com

Lyudmila Orlinova Filipova (Bulgarian: Людмила Орлинова Филипова) (born April 10, 1977) is a Bulgarian novelist and journalist. Since 2006, Filipova has written seven novels, all of which have become best-sellers. In October 2011, a television team from National Geographic filmed a documentary based on the discoveries described in her novel "The Parchment Maze". In November 2011, the movies based on her novels Glass Butterflies and Scarlet Gold won first place in the competition organised by the Bulgarian National Film Center. Her most recent book, The War of the Letters, was published in 2014 and describes the creation of the Cyrillic script during the Golden Age of Simeon I the Great. It is considered by many critics a unique story about one of the most significant developments in the history of Bulgaria^[1][2]

Biography

Lyudmila Filipova was born on 10 April 1977. She is the granddaughter of the former Bulgarian Prime Minister, Grisha Filipov. She graduated from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia with high honors and received a bachelor's degree in 2000. Later, she graduated from City University and received an MBA degree in General Management. Filipova went on to specialise in creative writing at Oxford University in 2009. Later, she worked as a marketing director at a German software company, SAP Bulgaria, where she was the managing director of Desiderata Advertising Agency as well as editor-in-chief of the magazine Marketing&Media. She has also been commercial director of MEDIMAG-MS, a medical equipment company.^[3]

Filipova is well-known to the Bulgarian people as a television reporter for two Bulgarian television channels, 7 DAYS and Triada (a local partner of CNN). Since then, Ludmila has published more than 30 articles in Bulgarian newspapers including 24 Hours, Monitor, Novinar, and Economic Life, as well as Tema, BusinessWeek, and Marketing&Media, where she has been editor-in-chief. In 2004, Filipova became a member of the liberal political party Novoto Vreme;^[4] in December 2011, she was awarded the Woman of the Year award in the Culture and Art category.

Literary career

As of 2014, Filipova has written six bestselling novels. Her first novel was Anatomy of Illusions, published in 2006. This book is one of the most successful stories about the Bulgarian transition period, which began in 1989. It is based on the true story of a boy and a girl during the Bulgarian transition from communism to democracy. It is currently in its sixth edition.

Her second novel, Scarlet Gold (2007), was also very successful. The film rights were sold to a multinational production company. Her third novel, Glass Butterflies (2008), was nominated for the second selection of the European literary contest "Prix du Livre Europeen 2008". In addition, this was the only foreign novel nominated for the American literary award "Hidden River 2009" and was also nominated for the Bulgarian literary award "Novel of the Year" in 2009.^[5]

The Parchment Maze

The Parchment Maze, published in 2009, is a suspense thriller which topped national bestseller lists for years and is currently in its sixth reprinting run. In 2012, National Geographic made a film based on the book. This film featured the author, and was entitled Sword in the Stone & the Orpheus Amulet. The novel is based on historical fact and combines an intellectual puzzle with real-life archaeological evidence and some elements of fantasy: it describes a search for the first ancient civilization in Europe.^[6]

Dante's Antichthon

Dante's Antichthon was published in 2010. This book can be read either as a continuation of The Parchment Maze or as a completely new adventure. It addresses topics previously untouched across Bulgarian literature, including the discoveries at Lepenski Vir, the mirror-image figures of Dante and Orpheus and the secret of the "Tenth Sign" which can only be seen by a chosen few. It also discusses the question of the origin of angels.. In Dante’s Antichthon, the main characters attempt to break the code of the Hidden City built by Gino Coppedè in Rome. They also try to discover why the tombs in Kazanlak, Bulgaria were built for people 2.3-2.5 metres tall (in similar fashion to the Egyptian pyramids and Ancient Babylon).^[7]

The War of the Letters

Published in 2014, The War of the Letters has experienced considerable success. This novel is set during the Simeon I of Bulgaria, during which the Bulgarians created the Cyrillic script. The book highlights the significant role of the Bulgarian alphabet in the preservation and development of the Bulgarian nation.

Bibliography

• „Анатомия на илюзиите“ (2006)^[8]
  • „Ανατομία των ψευδαισθήσεων“. Превод на Панос Статоянис. Athens: ΨΥΧΟΓΙΟΣ, 2012^[9]
• „Червено злато“ (2007)^[10]
• „Стъклени съдби“ (2008)^[11]
  • „Стеклянные судьбы“. Превод Е. Автандилова. Москва: Астрель, Олимп, 2009, 544 стр. ISBN 978-5-271-24113-0, ISBN 978-5-7390-2383-4
  • „Staklene sudbine“. Превод Dalibor Sokolović. Beograd: Alnari, 2012, 416 str. ISBN 978-86-7710-868-7
  • „Aramızdaki Duvar“. Превод Hasine Şen. Yayın Tarihi: Haziran, 2011, 476 s. ISBN 978-605-09-0199-3
• „Мастиленият лабиринт“ (2009)^[12][13]
  • „The Parchment Maze“. Превод на David Mossop и Angela Rodel. Sofia: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013, 438 p.^[14]
• „Антихтонът на Данте“ (2010)^[15]
  • „Dante's Antichthon“. Превод на Angela Rodel. Sofia: Egmont Bulgaria, 2014, 632 p. ISBN 9789542712022
• „Аномалия“ (2011)^[16][17]
• „Печатна грешка“ (2012)^[18]
• „Където се раждат ангелите“ (2013)^[19]
• „Войната на буквите“ (2014)

References

1. Mila Vacheva, Людмила Филипова: Битката е била да говорим и пишем на българица
2. BTV, Biography of Lyudmila Filipova
3. Електронно издателство "Литернет", Кратка биография на Людмила Филипова
4. Evelina Gecheva, „Людмила Филипова, член на организационния комитет на партия Ново време: България има нужда от потомствени политици“, Monitor, 10 July 2004.
5. Biography of Lyudmila Filipova, published in Tema Magazine, c. 11, April 2013
6. Tania Kolyovska, „Мастилени петна след Людмила Филипова“, recension in "Kultura", 23 (2550), 19 June 2009.
7. Official site of Lyudmila Filipova
8. Ирина Вагалинска, „Мрачният Гетсби и партийната принцеса“, отзив в сп. Тема, бр. 42 (261), 23-29 октомври 2006 г.
9. Maria S. Topalova, „Anatomy of illusions@FreeThinkingZone personally performed by Ludmila Filipova“, отзив в GR Reporter, 20 юни 2013 г.
10. Борислав Гърдев, „Кървавата цена на златото“, рец. в Литературен клуб, 5 май 2007 г.
11. Борислав Гърдев, „Към нови творчески хоризонти“, рец. в Литературен клуб, 11 март 2008 г.
12. Виолета Тончева, „За лабиринта като еманация и продукт на/за интерпретации“, рец. в електронно списание LiterNet, 01.06.2009, № 6 (115).
13. Денка Кацарска, „Мастиленият лабиринт“, където не можеш да се изгубиш, Людмила Филипова“, рец. в Литературен клуб, 2 август 2009 г.
14. Bozhidara Georgieva, „The Parchment Maze (Lyudmila Filipova's ambitious novel now in English)“, рец.
15. Борислав Гърдев, „Към недрата на човешкото познание“, рец. в Литературен клуб, 3 май 2010 г.
16. Как е възникнал замисъла на романа - в: „Людмила Филипова: Сексът за мен е част от нещо по-голямо, не ме привлича самоцелно“, интервю на Росица Иванова, сп. Cosmopolitan, 18.08.2011 г.
17. Борислав Гърдев, „За „Аномалия“-та и за Людмила Филипова“, рец. в Литературен клуб, 23 юни 2011 г.
18. Христо Блажев, „Печатна грешка“ на Людмила Филипова е разточителна Ниагара от пародия“, рец. в електронно списание Книголандия, 10/07/2012.
19. Борислав Гърдев, „Където се раждат ангелите“ от Людмила Филипова (рецензия)“, рец. в ЛиРа, 6 юли 2013 г.