Presentation of the books “The Firefly House” and “Hotel Alberta” by Gergana Decheva – Charity event

11.10.2018; 7 PM; “Sofia” Gallery

Free registration for the event HERE

BCI London cordially invites you to the charity event Presentation of the books “The Firefly House” and “Hotel Alberta” by Gergana Decheva. The proceeds from the sales of both books support three Bulgarian centres for children deprived of parental care and suffering disabilities in the cities of Blagoevgrad, Elhovo and Burgas.

Virginia Black is the pseudonym used by the Bulgarian author and translator of fiction novels, Gergana Decheva. Three of her books have already been published: “I Have Strong Jaws” (only in English) 2011,  and two other books – а novel and а short-story collection, both published in Bulgarian only: “ The Firefly House” (2017) and “Hotel Alberta” (2018). Both are due to come out in English by the beginning of 2019.

“The Firefly House” is the story of the grown-up Joe, who accidentally stumbles upon the colourful world of young Anna. Joe and Anna come together as two lost halves of a broken toy, to become that wholesome Joanna, as she used to be as a child. The book primarily deals with the theme of finding our inner child and rediscovering our love for that child.  In the midst of lively and entertaining company, faced by a series of comic, even absurd situations, tangled in a web of sarcasm and a little sadness, Joe and Anna find a bridge, connecting two long separated and vastly different worlds.

“Hotel Alberta” is a collection of short-stories, some written seventeen years ago, others not long before the publishing of the book. The most emphasized theme is the simple things in life, which make us happy, enrage us, weaken us, inspire us or just leave us indifferent. Once again, children are a large topic. Is the love we have for our children replaceable by the material?

Both books have thus far been presented a total of twenty-four times in the cities of Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Graz, Sofia, Ploviv, Burgas, Blagoevgrad and Elhovo. They have also been a part of the Festival of the Bulgarian Rose at Friedrichshof, the Week of Bulgarian Culture “Golden Pendar”. The presentations were structured as a theatre performance based on a selection of stories. Furthermore, “The Firefly House” took part in the seaside exhibition in Burgas, titled “Take A Book To the Beach” and in the Days Of Bulgarian Culture in the town of Ahtopol.

Gergana Decheva translates fiction for Egmont Bulgaria, Bard Publishing House, Skyprint and  Kalpazanovi Publishing Houses. Thus far, she has translated sixty-five contemporary bestsellers and classic literary works

During the last eleven years, she has lived in Cyprus, Malta, the UK and for the last seven years in Vienna, Austria. At the moment, she works as an English teacher and a translator.