Borjana Dodova (Czech Republic) writer

Bio Note

Borjana Dodova (1983) is a Czech writer and programmer. She studied at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts and at the Charles University in Prague. During her PhD studies she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and she spent a year in Washington, DC. Her short stories and essays were published in Czech literary magazines, like Revolver Revue, Psí víno, A2 and Umělec. Revolver Revue also published her debut book of short stories called Inverzní kyvadlo (Inverted Pendulum). She is finishing up a collection of “documentary” stories from the USA. She is interested in culture in all its variety, including theory of architecture, Cold War history, philosophy of language, semiotics, or machine learning.

Residency goals

During her stay in Sofia, Dodova worked on her new book project with the title Balkánská kuchařka (The Balkan Cookbook), a novel told in the 2nd person singular. The word kuchařka (a cookbook) carries a lot of different associations in Czech. The most simple meaning is a collection of recipes, but kuchařka is also a word for a female cook. Finally, kuchařka is a slightly derogatory term which signifies a naïve system of simplistic truths. Besides working on her book, Borjana will try to deepen her knowledge of Bulgarian history and familiarize herself with the local literary scene.