BORDER. Human stories from the edge of the Balkans

BORDER. Human stories from the edge of the Balkans

Introductory note: Dr. Aristotelis Tziampiris, Professor of International Relations at the University of Piraeus

Kapka Kasabova's book, BORDER. Human stories from the edge of the Balkans, is a thrilling journey through the mountainous Bulgarian-Turkish-Greek zone, through history, legends, politics, war, family and everyday life of the people.  Personal retrospective, travelogue, history book, character study, mirror of the international political scene and with abundant references to ancient myths and traditions, the Borders they consist of seemingly disparate elements, but what connects them is man's unwavering desire to defy borders and live freely – exactly the same as this book does.

Tomorrow you will be the refugee. Yesterday I was the border guard. The purpose of walls and borders is conscious: to stop the march of others. But their symbolism is mostly subconscious. Because we we are the others.

An exquisite book about a magical corner of the world... More clearly than anything else I've read, it shows what borders do to the people who live within their lines and how their legacy is preserved over time... Poet Kasabova writes with substance and lyricism for the unimaginable beauty of the landscape, as he crosses countries and centuries in an attempt to free himself from the strange allure of the Balkans. In the end it goes away, but the spell remains. – Mark Mazauer, The Guardian

Kasabova possesses a gift bestowed only on the best of writers: the ability to focus on characters that shed light on the conditions of a place at a given time. – New York Times

Kasabova knows how to surprisingly unite the past with the present, the buried myths with the dreams of today, the fragmented lives of the fall of communism with the intoxication of the possibilities of a world to come. – Mark Semo, Le Monde

The writer and poet Kapka Kasabova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1973, immigrated with her family to New Zealand in the early 90s and since 2005 has been living permanently in Scotland. Her native language is Bulgarian but she writes in English. Her first poetry collection, All roads lead to the sea (1997), awarded in New Zealand and her first novel, Recognition (1999), derived it Commonwealth Writers' Prize. The Borders, among other distinctions, were honored in 2018 with the Highland Book Prize, as well as with the Global Cultural Understanding award. More about the author here

Listen to the interview of Dr. Giambiri about the book on the show "The Voice of Greece" on ERTwebradio here