The writers Anastasia Levkova from Ukraine, Nikola Lekić from Serbia and Tülin Erkan from Belgium are part of the talent development project for the new generation of European literary voices CELA. They are participating in the Literary Talks festival in Sofia in the event New European Voices. 

The books of the three writers take us to different places - to Crimea and its history until Russia's occupation in 2014 (Levkova); to the airport terminal in Istanbul, where Tülin Erkan's heroine is stuck between two cultures; to a hostel on the border of reality (Lekić). Although very different, in all three novels there is a turning to the past in an attempt to overcome personal loss, to search for the roots of identity, to rediscover language, history, belonging.

The Book Club Sofia present the three authors to the Bulgarian audience with interviews.

The Book Club: Introduce yourself in a few words to the Bulgarian readers. Who is Anastasia Levkova?
Anastasia Levkova: I am a Ukrainian writer and literary editor, the author of four books, including a Ukrainian bestseller — There Is Land Beyond Perekop. A Crimean Novel (around 50,000 copies sold within two years of its release). I am an author who tries to portray an era through depictions of everyday life, and to reflect society as a whole through a dozen or so characters. I write fiction, but my writing style resembles documentary prose: I enjoy describing in detail the settings where my characters live, as well as the political and social events that actually took place during the time in which they live. However, the focus of my writing is primarily on people's emotions, on complex experiences and dilemmas. My texts are often based on testimonies of real people.

The Book Club: In your latest book – There is a Land Beyond Perekop. A Crimean Novel – you intertwine past and present, picturing the complex relationships between the Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians and Russians on the peninsula, in search of answers to difficult questions. What do you think is the role of the past in our present and future, and how seriously should we treat its study and research, beyond generally accepted norms?
Anastasia Levkova: This is a very complex and broad question, which I try to explore through my books. I believe the past greatly shapes the present for individuals and for societies. Can we free ourselves from the past? — this is a question that deeply concerns me. I think history should be studied to help us understand who we are, where we come from and how we navigate our paths — to grasp patterns and learn from past mistakes. However, I am aware that humans rarely learn from past mistakes. Moreover, becoming too immersed in the past can deprive a person of their present and future. Still, one should try to live in the present rather than live only in the past.

The Book Club: In your opinion, can people of the 21st century be categorical in answering the question 'Who am I?' and to what extent does this answer depend on their belonging to the past, ancestral community/social group, etc.?
Anastasia Levkova: Each of us holds many identities, so there can’t be a single answer to the question 'Who am I?' (For example, I am a Ukrainian, a mother, a cultural worker, a wife, a daughter, a friend, etc.). For different people, different identities may take precedence; for some, being a Ukrainian (Bulgarian, French, American, etc.) comes first, while for others, it may be, say, being a psychoanalyst (a scientist, a cook, an athlete, etc.). From both history and my own life observations, I understand how much a person is a social being and how important it is for them to belong to a certain group. I believe that knowledge of the past greatly influences how we perceive ourselves.

The Book Club: When does an authority figure lose its influence and how often should we question it?
Anastasia Levkova: I believe that authority cannot and should not be unquestionable or infallible. For children up to the age of 5-7, people can seem either entirely good or entirely bad at a given moment. But as the brain develops, a person learns (or should learn) to understand both sides of a situation: on the one hand... on the other hand... If, as adults, we still blindly trust authorities and see the world only in black and white, it means that we are functioning at a preschool level — or are under the strong influence of propaganda. Having critical thinking by definition means questioning authority, and when deciding whether or not to trust an authority, we must look for the answer within ourselves — within our own mind and heart.

The Book Club: Wish something to the people this interview will reach.
Anastasia Levkova: In this strange and ever-changing world, where lately everything we once considered unshakable and clear is being turned upside down every day, I wish you to keep your sanity and critical thinking. I wish you captivating books that inspire you to think and search for answers to the questions that matter to you.

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The Book Club: Introduce yourself in a few words to the Bulgarian readers. Who is Nikola Lekić?
Nikola Lekić: Nikola is one weird collage mostly made of game of words and symbolism, deeply involved in striping the layers of external and inner reality through ancient technique of child-like questioning and streching of the body and mind.

The Book Club: In your book The Way of Perceptionists, you take us to the hostel Beyond the Border, where the main character welcomes tourists from the West and the East but finding himself between his dreams and memories, he decides to break away from prejudices and entrenched attitudes towards the world and the people in it. In this regard – to what extent is the way we see the world a projection of our knowledge about it – what our ancestors told us, what we think it is, and what we dream it to be? In this case – is objectivity achievable?
Nikola Lekić: Objectivity is not a goal, in a way of men-made-mind-goal; if that's the case then the point is already compromised. Objectivity is a path like most of these notreallyeasilyexplainable concepts, so it's not all just black and white, we can go from 5% objective opinion to 95% objective opinion, as a result of uncountable number of factors. Depending of types and sums of our own psychological construction, personal nodes and blind spots, we can be closer or further in non-linear distance from an allknowing objective perspective.

The Book Club: How much do dreams of being someone else give us and at the same time – how much do they take from us?
Nikola Lekić: Well, it depends. Dreams and worries work on the same principles. Maybe on the other side of psychological border (from the book, that you mentioned) there is a Nikola guy who lives with family of three, wife and two daughters, and works in a bank or local cookie factory and dreams about writing a book about cookies and going to Sofia as a guest of a literary festival and overall – dreams about having a life like this Nikola here, but he's putting a lot of worries and fears in front of persuing his dreams and by doing that he's maybe messing with the inner sense and external consequences in life of this Nikola right here while he's eating cookies and leaving cookie crumbs in between the pages of a book. Same on the other side: my concious and unconcious thoughts about children that I don't have, about bank or cookie factory where – as aware – I'm not working, they probably make a mess in one of more of possible Nikola's from different areas across the psychological borders.

The Book Club: To what extent does being open to others help us to be open to ourselves?
Nikola Lekić: That kind of exchange, in both ways, works like a perfect machine. But we, the humans, are mostly unaware of itss perfection as we, mostly unwillingly, cannot see the results in their full power (as we expect the results to come, in sort of, through the history learned and practiced ways). Awareness of forever changing being stucked with forever present black spots in its own awareness offer us the opportunity to meet and feel the depths of other, outside or inside ourselves.

The Book Club: Are you excited about your meeting with the Bulgarian readers on April 26? Wish something to the people this interview will reach.
Nikola Lekić: Yes, it's my first time in Sofia and I'm really excited to meet the atmosphere of the city. And for the readers, yes, the real reading is always between the lines. ♡

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The Book Club: Introduce yourself in a few words to the Bulgarian readers. Who is Tülin Erkan?
Tülin Erkan: I’m a language lover, a writer, freelance editor and creative writing teacher. Being Flemish-Turkish, I grew up at the Belgian seaside in a multilingual nest, with a French-speaking mother and an English-speaking grandmother. I spent my summers with my father in Turkey. When people describe me as 'half', I feel double or triple... In my debut novel Honeyeater, I explore the friction between mother tongue and homeland, and study identity in a sometimes fragmented cultural and linguistic world.

The Book Club: In your book Honingeter we meet the main character – Sibel, who is waiting at the Istanbul Airport and misses another flight to Brussels every day. She does not feel at home either in Turkey or in Belgium, which makes her want to sort out the memories of her late father and rediscover her language. In this regard – how thin are the threads that build us; how much would it cost us if one of them breaks and how much is needed to knit it up again?
Tülin Erkan: I believe we humans are all multi-layered beings. Each one of us consists of a multitude of cultures, languages, traditions, ancestral traditions… To me, there is not one single identity. We all exist as fragmented beings and to me that is the beauty of human nature. We should cherish our multitudes. Above all, I truly believe we are resilient beings. World politics today cause a tremendous amount of grief: seeing a lot of people in the world displaced, forced to leave their loves ones and their beloved roots. It breaks my heart but I’m also astonished by people’s resilience.

The Book Club: How strong is our connection with our language and to what extent is it a factor determining our ancestral and social identity?
Tülin Erkan: To me, language is not a mirror. It’s a lens that we gaze through, a window, the way we see the world. Language determines a lot about the people speaking/writing/using it. Speaking for myself: I feel that I’m a different person when I’m speaking Dutch/Flemish, French, English, for example. And I think a lot of people can relate to this.

The Book Club: How difficult is it for someone who is constantly somewhere in between to simply be human - here and now (like Sivel - between Brussels and Istanbul)?
Tülin Erkan: Sadly, it’s a universal thing: the feeling of not quite fitting in, being an outsider in some kind of way. I think the best way to deal with this is embracing that feeling. Embracing the fact that we are all multifaceted people, fluid, but still resilient, and knowing that you’re not alone. I think a lot of people can relate with the feeling of being an outsider or feeling estranged. In present times, a lot of people are struggling with that 'sense of belonging'.

The Book Club: Are you excited about your meeting with the Bulgarian readers on April 26? Wish something to the people this interview will reach.
Tülin Erkan: Yes! I’m so excited and deeply honoured. I hope I can reach out and connect with Bulgarian readers through language barriers and that we can connect on a deeper human level. I look forward to the delicious Bulgarian food and hospitality and I’m looking forward to learning some Bulgarian. Google Translate to the rescue! :) 

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Anastasia Levkova is a Ukrainian writer, editor, cultural manager, and journalist. Since 2007, she has been running dozens of book projects in Ukraine. Currently, she is an editor of The Ukrainians media and a coordinator of PEN's Ukraine’s Merezhyvo [Lacework] Project: Literary Readings in Towns of Ukraine. She is also a member of PEN Ukraine. She has authored two awarded books for young adults. Her novel There is a Land Beyond Perekop. A Crimean Novel is published by Laboratory in 2023 and shortlisted for BBC Book of the Year.

Nikola Lekić is a Serbian writer who grew up in Belgrade, Sombor and Kruševac. He studied Art History at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Philosophy. His short stories have been published in literary magazines and a number of anthologies. He is the author of the novels Trafika (2016), Persson (2019) and The way of perceptionists (2024).

Tülin Erkan is a writer, freelance editor, and creative writing teacher. She studied Linguistics and Literature as well as Comparative Literature. She grew up in a multilingual family with a French-speaking mother, an English-speaking grandmother and spending summers in Turkey with her father. While some people describe her as 'half' something or other, she considers herself to have a double identity. In her debut novel Honingeter, she explored the tension between one’s mother tongue and homeland. Honingeter was nominated for the Bronzen Uil, Boekenbon and De Boon literary prizes. She is currently working on her second novel.

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The writers are taking part in the Literary Talks - Sofia festival, organized the Read Sofia Foundation on the initiative of the Next Page Foundation, as part of the CELA - Connecting Emerging Literary Artists project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and the National Culture Fund, Bulgaria.