Veselin Hanchev(1919-1966)

Veselin Simeonov Hanchev was born on April 4, 1919 in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. He is a Bulgarian poet and publicist. He studied in his hometown, then law at Sofia University in 1941. He participated in World War II (1944 - 45 ). He had worked as a literary curator (1938 - 43 ) in the newspaper "Literary class" , a Head of Literature and Arts in Radio Sofia (1945), a playwright at the National Opera (1949 - 51) and in the Satire Theatre in Sofia. He was a Counselor of Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of Bulgaria in Warsaw (1962 - 64 ) and Paris (1964- 66). He began to publish his verses in 1934 in newspaper "Hour" , "Literary voice" ; after 1944 - in all periodic literary journals. In his first collection of poems "Spain cross" , dedicated to the Spanish Civil War ( 1936 - 39 ) was prevailing pacifist protest. Stage in the creative development of Hanchev is a collection of poems "Poems in the cartridge-boxes" - lyrical diary of heroism and courage of the Bulgarian soldier in World War II. Civil and intimate emotions of the poet always are in unity and harmony. Hanchev is the author of plays - "Gold", "Poison dove", "Two and Death" and of unrealized film script "King Marco" . He had translated "Heroic Comedy" by E. Rostand ( 1961 ), works by French ( Jacques Prevert ) and Russian poets. His poems have been translated into German , Polish , Romanian , Russian, Ukrainian , Hungarian , French , Czech , Japanese and other languages. He died on November 4, 1966 in Sofia, Bulgaria.