Vladimir Levchev was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1957. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia in 1982, and from the MFA program in Creative Writing at American University, Washington, D.C., in 1996, as a Fulbright scholar.
His poetry collections include The Rainbow Mason (Charlottesville, VA: Cornerstone Press, 2005), Heavenly Balkans (Washington, DC: Argon House Press, 2002), Black Book of the Endangered Species (Washington, DC: Word Works, 1999, translated from Bulgarian by the author with Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Henry Taylor), Leaves from the Dry Tree (Merrick, New York: Cross-Cultural Communications, 1996, translated with Henry Taylor). Last year, Janet-45 Publ. in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, published his book Who Is Dreaming My Life: 1977 – 2007, a selection from the 13 poetry books he has published in Bulgarian in the past 30 years.
Levchev is also the author of the novel Krali Marko:The Balkan Prince, many essays and articles. He founded the first Bulgarian independent magazine Glas, which was banned by the Communist authorities before November 10, 1989. He has worked as poetry editor with Narodna Kultura Publishers, journalist and editor with Democratsia, and Literaturen Vestnik, general coordinator of Free Poetry Society.
Between 1994 and 2007, Vladimir Levchev resided in Washington, DC, where he has worked as a university professor of literature, high school teacher, translator, mailman, and book seller. Currently he is an Assistant Professor of Writing and Literature at the American University in Bulgaria, Blagoevgrad.
He is divorced and he has a 15 years old son, Boyan.
Vladimir’s contributions:
