|
|
 |
|
|
Iana Boukova
TRAVELING IN THE DIRECTION
OF THE SHADOW
Publisher: New York Review Books, New York 2026
Language - English
Pages: - 296
ISBN - 979-889-623-083-0
Publication Date: September 15, 2026
A woman who reads the future in the faces of her lovers, a dice-player whose unfailing luck becomes a curse, a manuscript illuminator who leaves his monastery to become a most fearsome bandit. Set in the Balkans in the nineteenth century, Traveling in the Direction of the Shadow follows eight characters—all defined by a quest, all marked by a hidden, often torturous talent—whose fates become inextricably interwoven. One of the characters, novelist Ian van Athen, may even be the progenitor of all the rest—although reality has a way of defying fiction, and vice versa, and van Athen soon discovers not even he is immune to the undeniable logic of story, to the twists and turns of his own fate…
Rich with classical allusions and nested narratives that recall the fictions of Calvino and Borges, Iana Boukova’s enthralling novel about the pleasures and perils of storytelling appears here in Ekaterina Petrova’s masterful translation, and is imbued with all the beauty and unexpectedness of poetry.
The translation of Traveling in the Direction of the Shadow has been made possible with the financial support of the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria, 2024 Translation Program, and in partnership with the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation.
Distributed by:
 
1 December 2024
BLACK HAIKU WITH A TRIPLE PREMIERE IN
NEW YORK, SOFIA, AND ATHENS
The new poetry collection by poet and writer Yana Boukova, Black Haiku, is making a triple debut: in Bulgarian, published by Janet 45, Plovdiv; in Greek, by Ikaros, Athens; and in English as part of the collective edition Notes of the Phantom Woman, published by the iconic New York-based Ugly Duckling Presse, translated by John O'Kane and Ekaterina Petrova.
Written in the aftermath of the pandemic and in the shadow of two wars, Black Haiku focuses on the fragility of all certainties, the cracks in security, the betrayals of habit, the blind spots of theory, and the panicked retreat of logic. It examines the terror of mortality and the boundless illusions we create to deceive ourselves. The book persistently explores reality both within and outside us, searching for poetic dynamics in dry information and metaphorical value in encyclopedic facts. It draws from the tragedy of the news and the flashes of daily life. Time, in all its manifestations—geological, historical, and biological—becomes an experiment, nourishment, and challenge. The themes also include the beauty of mental vulnerability and the physical imprint of memory on the body.
The first presentation of the Bulgarian edition will take place on December 10 at 6:00 PM during the “Meet and Greet with Autographs” with Yana Boukova at the Janet 45 booth, located on the 3rd floor of the National Palace of Culture (NDK) at the opening of the Christmas Book Fair.
Ugly Duckling Presse, New York
Жанет 45
Ikaros Books, Athens
14 November 2024
Janet 45, Plovdiv
BLACK HAIKU
ISBN: 978-6-191869-31-2
Publication Date: 14 November 2024
Written immediately after the pandemic and under the shadow of two wars, the poetry collection Black Haiku focuses on the fragility of all that is taken for granted, the cracks in security and the betrayals of habit, the blind spots in theory and the panicked retreat of logic, the terror of mortality, and the inexhaustible illusionist abilities we use to deceive ourselves. It persistently re-examines reality both within and outside us, seeking poetic dynamism in dry information and metaphorical value in encyclopedic facts, drawing from the tragedy of news events and the flashes of daily life. Time, in all its manifestations—geological, historical, biological—appears as experiment, sustenance, and test, while the beauty of mental exposure and the physical imprint of memory on the body are among the themes the book explores.
Black Haiku was launched in three editions: in Bulgarian by Janet 45 in Plovdiv, in Greek by Ikaros in Athens, and in English as part of the collection Notes of the Phantom Woman, published by Ugly Duckling Presse in New York, translated by John O’Kane and Ekaterina Petrova.
More
28 August 2024
Ugly Duckling Presse, New York
IANA BOUKOVA
NOTES OF THE PHANTOM WOMAN
ISBN: 978-1-946433-00-8
Publication Date: November 01 2024
Translated by John O'Kane, Ekaterina Petrova
With a near-compulsive insistence, Notes of the Phantom Woman addresses the question of what reality is and how we construct it. Ranging in subject from the presence of pigeons in the city, the dead ends of logic, how geological time becomes personal, and the boundary between statistics and Hell, the poems are connected by a rigorous inquiry into the illusions of thinking, the blind spots of utopianism, and the trouble with moral positioning. Results of such a task are—predictably—unpredictable; a healthy dose of black humor helps the poetry go down.
John O’Kane was born in New York City in 1940, majored in Classical Studies at Princeton University, then went on to do graduate work in Arabic and Persian at the American University in Cairo and the University of Tehran. As an independent scholar and specialist in medieval Sufism, he has translated eight volumes from Arabic and Persian, as well as five academic works from German that deal withIslamic history, mysticism, and Classical Persian poetry. For over fifty years he has been living between Amsterdam and the South of France with regular visits to Athens. In recent years he has become interested in modern Greek poetry and working closely with contemporary poets in Greece.
Ekaterina Petrova is a literary translator and a bilingual (English/Bulgarian) nonfiction writer, currently based in Sofia. She holds an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, where she was awarded the Iowa Arts Fellowship. Her literary translations and nonfiction writing have appeared in various Bulgarian and English-language publications, including Asymptote, Words Without Borders, European Literature Network, EuropeNow, The Southern Review, and Reading in Translation. Her translation of Iana Boukova’s novel Traveling in the Direction of the Shadow, which received a PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant, is forthcoming from New York Review Books in 2026.
More
© 2019 - 2026, Iana Boukova
Contact e-mail: bukova(dot)iana(at)gmail.com
| | | |
