Boris Aprilov

Boris Aprilov (Bulgarian: Борис Априлов) (21 March 1921 – 10 April 1995) was a Bulgarian writer, playwright, satirist and humourist, dramaturge, well known for his novels, plays and screenplays, and mostly for his children's literature.

Also known as: Ahasver, Aho, Ahoto, and other aliases in the humorist journal "Sturshel" ("Hornet").

Biography

"Boris Aprilov" is the pseudonym of Atanas Vassilev Djavkov, born 21 March 1921, in the small Bulgarian town Malko Tarnovo, where his parents' families found shelter after the banishment of Bulgarians from the historical Bulgarian lands, left over as Turkish after the Russian-Turkish war – so called Thracian Bulgarians. His fathers Vassil's family lived on welfare in Lozengrad until the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish occupation. His mother Nanka was an analphabet orphan from a peasant family, given at a very young age to a much older war invalid in an arranged marriage.

Soon after Boris Aprilov was born, his family moved to the big seaside town Burgas, where his brother Georgi was born.

Boris Aprilov got his education in Burgas, where since his early school years he started publishing short stories, satiric essays, poetry and prose in local newspapers.

In 1945 Boris Aprilov married Shela (Rachel) Abraham Cohen, born in Burgas (06.12.1918 – 09.02.1996, Tel-Aviv). They met in the Burgas town library, brought together by their shared passion for literature. They lived together until their last days, had two daughters: Djina Vassileva – fine artist, born in Burgas 15 November 1945, and Laura Vassileva – writer, born in Sofia (30 May 1950 – 09.02.1991 Hayfa, Israel).

In 1947 Boris Aprilov was invited by the poet Radoy Ralin to work as a columnist for the satiric journal "Sturshel", and the family moved to the capital of Bulgaria – Sofia, where they remained for the rest of their life.

In 1956, the midst of the cold war, Boris Aprilov traveled to London and Western Europe with his wife. This trip cost him his career as a journalist at "Sturshel".

An anonymous letter from an unknown envier pointed Boris Aprilov out. It said that from a young age "Nasko" had been working as a British spy, that he sang aloud famous hits from English and American movies, and choose to travel to London instead of Moscow. For the communist regime in Bulgaria in those times that was enough. Fortunately Boris Aprilov was warned on time by Chelkash, the leading editor of the Journal, and decided to resign before he was fired. As a result of this incident, Boris Aprilov was blacklisted by the authorities. Unable to find any employment as a journalist or editor, he lived exclusively from his literature work...

From 1959–1963 Boris Aprilov served as a lead dramaturge and screenplay editor in the Bulgarian State circuses.

Between 1977–1980 he served as a lead dramaturge of the Sliven's Theater for Drama, earning the right to a pension.

This sums up his work as an employee.

Boris Aprilov was awarded many prizes and honorable medals by festivals for his work, puppet theater plays, literature and other.

Boris Aprilov, with his wife, spent the last three years of his life in Tel Aviv, Israel, with their daughters, who fled the communist regime three months before its fall.

In 1991 his younger daughter died after a long disease. Shortly after that, Boris Aprilov became sick himself. He died on 10.4.1995, in a Tel-Aviv hospital. His wife also died a few months later in Tel Aviv.

They have two granddaughters and one grandson: from Djina: April – 08.2.1977, Gabriella – 15 August 1982, from Laura: Maxim – 8.12.1983

[*] His beloved book as young boy

[**]

Laura Vassileva (30 May 1950 Sofia, Bulgaria – 9 February 1991 Hayfa, Israel) is the younger daughter of Boris Aprilov. She had a very successful debut in the genre of Modern stories and Children literature. One of the two short novels she published in the Bulgarian cultural journal "Plamuk" 9/1982 (сп. "Пламък" 9/1982), capture "Debuts" (Дебюти) was reproduced in the Russian journal for culture and art "Литературная газета" in the next year, and got the first prize for foreign short novel out of 12 authors. Her only children's book is "Gold Dust on the Eyelashes" (1983, publisher "Otechestvo" “Отечество"; 2002, publisher "FYUT" "Фют".) Her first radio play "The little green crocodile" received a first prize for radio plays for 1988. She wrote some screenplays for children's TV. She didn't finish any additional works...

Works

Published books

• "Worries" ("Тревоги") Humorous stories and feuilletons. 1953;
• "The Peak of Impertinence" ("Върхът на нахалството") Humorous stories. Publisher "Sturshel". 1957;
• "The Adventures of Lisko" ("Приключенията на Лиско") Humorous novel. 1957;
• "Knock-out" ("Нокаут") Humorous stories. Publisher "Sturshel". 1959;
• "The Sea is for Everyone" ("Морето е на всички") Modern stories. 1963;
• "Pirate Romance" ("Пиратска романтика") Humorous stories. Publisher "Sturshel". 1964;
• "A Touch" ("Докосване") Modern stories. 1965;
• "A Ball in the Sea" ("Топка в морето") "Fairy tale". 1965;
• "Poncho the Foal" ("Кончето Пончо") "Fairy tale". 1967;
• "The Boss' Muffin" ("Кифлата на началника") Humorous stories. Publisher "Sturshel". 1968;
• "The Parrot and The Butterfly" ("Папагалчето и пеперудката") Fairy tale". 1968;
• "The Adventures of Lisko at Sea" ("Приключенията на Лиско по море") A novel for children and adults. 1968 (1982) (2001);
• "Autumn Dunes" ("Есенни дюни") Modern stories. 1969;
• "An Incident" ("Произшествие") Play. 1969;
• "One Small White Cloud" ("Едно малко бяло облаче") Fairy tale. 1970;
• "Selected Stories and Novels" ("Избрани разкази и повести") 1971;
• "The New Adventures of Lisko" ("Новите приключения на Лиско") Novels for children. 1973;
• "The Newest Adventures of Lisko" ("Най-новите приключения на Лиско") Two novels for children – "The Ghost" and "The Grand Prise". 1975;
• "Lisko in the Land of the Square Beings" ("Лиско при квадратните същества") A novel for children. 1975;
• "The Six Little Penguins" ("Шестте пингвинчета") A novel for children. 1978;
• "A Story with a Swan" ("История с лебед") Humorous stories. Publisher "Sturshel". 1979;
• "Ten Adventures of Lisko" ("Десет приключения на Лиско") Chosen children novels. 1981;
• "The Deffence of Sparta" ("Отбраната на Спарта") Modern stories and novels. 1982;
• "Four Novels" ("Четири Повести") 1984;
• "The Hour of the eastern breeze" ("Часът на източния бриз") Stories and novels. 1986;
• "A Delicate Mood" ("Деликатно настроение") Stories and novels. 1986;
• "Distant Sailing" ("Далечно плаване") Novels. 1988;
• "The Hawaii Islands" ("Хавайските острови") Novel published posthumously in 1997;
• "Traversetown" ("Траверстаун") Unfinished story;
• "Anthology-Bulgarian Marine Novelists" Sofia (2002), University Publisher "St Clement of Ochrid" compilators, Atanas Stoichev, Boris Aprilov, Varban Stamatov, Georgi Ingilizov, Emil Markov, Jivko Angelov, Konstantin Ploshtakov, Kosta Radev, Nikola Radev, Peyu Bogdanov, Petar Kazalarski, Slavcho Chernishev,Tihomir Iordanov,Todor Velchev,Zvetan Minkov ISBN 954-07-1706-X.

"Lisko" series

• "The Adventures of Lisko in the Forest" ("Приключенията на Лиско в гората", 1957);
• "The Adventures of Lisko at Sea" ("Приключенията на Лиско по море", 1968)
• "The New Adventures of Lisko" ("Новите приключения на Лиско", 1971) Contains the novels:
  • "Do not Touch the Suitcase" („Не пипай куфара“)
  • "Chimmy" („Чими“)
  • "The Watch" („Часовникът“)
  • "The Little Red Riding Hood" („Червената шапчица“)
  • "The Pit" („Дупката“)
  • "The Python" („Питонът“)
• "The Adventures of Lisko in the Land of the Square Beings" („Приключенията на Лиско в страната на квадратните същества“, 1975)
• "The Newest Adventures of Lisko" („Най-новите приключения на Лиско“, 1975) Contains the novels:
  • "The Ghost" („Привидението“);
  • "The Grand Prise" („Голямата награда“);
• "Ten Adventures of Lisko" („Десет приключения на Лиско“, 1987) Contains the previous eight novels, plus two new:
  • "The Wall" („Стената“)
  • "The Blue Flamingo" („Синьото фламинго“)

Books for children

• „A Ball in the Sea“ („Топка в морето“) Fairy tale. 1965;
• “The Foal Poncho” („Кончето Пончо“) Fairy tale. 1967;
• “The Parrot and The Butterfly” („Папагалчето и пеперудката“) Fairy tale. 1968;
• "One Small White Cloud" („Едно малко бяло облаче“) Fairy tale. 1970;
• “The Six Little Pinguins” („Шестте пингвинчета“. Повест за деца) A novel for children. 1978;

Greatly fascinated by playwright, Aprilov wrote many drama and puppet plays, for both children and adults, many of which have been played abroad. Most popular is the puppetplay "Chimi", played in many theaters around the world for decades. A movie based on it was made, named "Thimi" in DDR.

Stageplays

Movie Screenplays

The next movies are made over his screenplays:

• Petimata ot "Mobi Dick“ (1970)

... a.k.a. "The Five from the Moby Dick" – Europe (English title)

• Zdrachavane (1989)(1970) 1 2

... a.k.a. "Dusk" – Europe (English title)

• Byagstvo v Ropotamo (1973)

... a.k.a. "Flight to the Ropotamo" – Europe (English title)

There are some cartoons made from his children stories:

• Opera za edin leshnik (1974)

... a.k.a. "Opera for a Hazelnut" – Europe (English title)

• Vazdishka na oblekchenie (1982)

... a.k.a. "Sigh of Relief" – Europe (English title)

• Timmi(1985) (TV) (play)

...aka Chimi.

Novels and short stories

many of them published in the cultural journals and newspapers:

• "The Climbing" (BG)

(more to come)

Awards

(more to come)

• for literature:
• for puppet theatre plays:
• others: