Pygmalion Publishing

"Pygmalion" Publishing was founded in 1992 in Plovdiv by Emil Stoyanov. In publishing programme is devoted to the philosophical and political literature and fiction, priority have the translated Western literature and books, supporting cultural exchange between Bulgaria and Europe. The Publishing house works closely with several major European cultural foundations - the Austrian foundation "Kulturkontakt", the German "Goethe Institute" and "Edenkoben", the Swiss "Pro Helvetia" and the Cyprus "A. G. Leventis ".

"Pygmalion" Publishing has published authors from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, who wre previously unreleased in Bulgarian language and have been not known by the Bulgarian reader and also many important Bulgarian texts.

More than 300 volumes have been issued, as well as more than 200 pieces of classical, modern and contemporary German-language authors - from Goethe and Schiller, through Vedekind and Schnitzler, to Robert Musil, Erich Kästner, Thomas Bernhard, George Tabor, Peter Turrini, Werner Schwab and Lucas Berfus.

Many of the pieces are played in theaters, and "Pygmalion" Publishing takes part in the Festival of Arts "Apolonia" and readings in the European-Bulgarian Cultural Centre, Goethe Institute and the Austrian Library, as well as in performances in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

The following anthologies enjoyed great interest:

"Spanish Political Philosophy" (including articles by the most important Spanish political philosophers of XV - XX century, who besides analyzing and systematizing Spanish history, also specify the ideas that have influenced the political life and contributed to form the Europe of the Nations, of the philosophy and art as we know it today),

"Alternatives to unfreedom" (texts that reveal to the reader a conceptual system of justice, freedom, power and human rights, which became binding and constant as a prerequisite for realizing fully political life),

"The Great Apocalypse" (collection, presenting the literature of the circle "Young Vienna", works, which are the beginning of Austrian modern classics and at the same time form part of the spiritual ties between Europe and the new Bulgarian culture from the early twentieth century)

,"The Dreams on the Wall" (a collection of poetry and prose texts, representative for the contemporary artistic language, born out of the spirit of the modern tradition in Berlin)

"The Other next to you" (an anthology of Southeast Europe, composed by the swedish author Richard Schwartz containing twenty-one stories from writers from Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, which show the sadness and pain from conflicts in the Balkans today)


Interest enjoyed also a series of previously unreleased in the Bulgarian language books on the history of the Balkans - "Albanians (modern history)" by Miranda Vickers, "History of Croatia" by Ivo Goldstein, "History of Greece" by Richard Klog and "The creation of Modern Turkey" by Bernard Lewis.


In 1999 and 2001"Pygmalion" Publishing published two unique editions - "The personal notebook of Hristo Botev" and "Hristo Botev. Documents (archive)"- facsimile editions with text and comments, compiled by Professor Nikolai Zhechev and Professor Tsvetolyub Nushev.


Issued in English are the "Bachkovo Ossuary" (headed by Prof. Elka Bakalova), "National Museum of History" (catalog, edited by Prof. Bozidar Dimitrov) and "The Odeon of Ancient Philippopolis", which are deluxe full-color editions of these cultural and architectural monuments.


In 2000 the publishing house "Pygmalion" in cooperation with the European Academy in Berlin organized the meeting Berlin - Plovdiv, under the patronage of Mrs. Rita Süssmuth, President of the German Parliament, which involved young German authors, whose works were published in the anthology "The City after the Wall".


In September 2005 ended the ten-year joint project of "Pygmalion" Publishing and the German Cultural Foundation "Edenkoben" of Rhineland-Palatinate, led by Ingo Wilhelm. The project was called "German trip to Plovdiv", part of the project was the publishing in Bulgarian and German language of over 10 books by German writers, who visited Plovdiv. This is probably one of the longest and most valuable cultural projects.


In 2008 "Pygmalion" was co-founder of the literary project headed by Ingo Wilhelm and called "Balkan Alphabet" for publication of bilingual editions of Bulgarian, Romanian and Greek authors.


In 2009 the "Pygmalion" Publishing ceased its operational activity and the "Pygmalion" Foundation became his successor in terms of projects in the field of literature and culture.