Elizabeth Kostova

FOUNDER

Elizabeth Kostova holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Michigan. She has published fiction, poetry, and essays. Her first novel, The Historian (Little, Brown, U.S./Ciela, Bulgaria), set partly in Bulgaria, has been translated into 40 languages and has sold nearly five million copies worldwide. Kostova has a strong interest in Bulgarian history, literature, and culture and is co-founder (with Svetlozar Zhelev) of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation for Creative Writing in Bulgaria. Her second novel, The Swan Thieves, will be published by Little, Brown in October 2006. She lives in the U.S., where she teaches fiction writing at the University of Michigan Bear River summer seminar. She has also taught in the MFA Program at the University of North Carolina (Wilmington).

Julian Popov

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Julian Popov graduated in Bulgarian Studies from Sofia University. He is the author of English Bulgaria, or Switzerland in the Balkans (Ciela 2004) and the novel Island of Mists (Ciela 2006) and a contributor to the widely successful Bulgarian anthology Sex-Off (2006). He has also written hundreds of articles, published in Bulgaria and abroad, about Bulgarian, English, and EU politics, society, and education. Julian Popov is one of the founders of New Bulgarian University as well as its first executive director, director of the UK charity organization Friends of Bulgaria, and chairman of the board of directors of the Bulgarian School of Politics. Since 1994 he has worked in London as a journalist and consultant; his articles have been published in such leading international periodicals as The Independent, EU Observer, The Scotsman, and many Bulgarian journals. He also created the first blog for publications on current issues on Bulgarian Internet.

Sasha Bezuhanova

Sasha Bezuhanova is a graduate of the Technical University of Sofia. Since 1998 she has been General Manager of Hewlett Packard Bulgaria. She is currently co-president of the Confederation of the Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria, chair of the board of Junior Achievement for Bulgaria, and chair of Cluster Information and Communication Technologies. She also serves on the boards of the American University in Bulgaria, Schools On-line, and The Open Society Foundation. Sasha Bezuhanova is honorary consul of Luxemburg in Bulgaria.

Philip Dimitrov

Philip Dimitrov holds a degree in law from Sofia University and worked as an attorney at law in Sofia. In 1990 he became a chair of the Coordination Council of the Union of Democratic Forces. He was elected Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 1991 and remained at this post until the end of 1992. He served as Ambassador of Bulgaria to the UN (1997-1998) and Ambassador of Bulgaria to the U.S (1998-2001). He is currently a deputy of the 40th Bulgarian National Assembly. Philip Dimitrov is author of the books For They Lived, Oh Lord (1991), The True Story of the Knights of the Round Table (1996), Jumping into the Atlantic (Woodrow Wilson Center, USA, 2003), The Myths of Bulgarian Transition, and Light of Men (2003).

Dessislava Gavrilova

Dessislava Gavrilova graduated in Theater Studies from the National Academy of Theater and Film Arts in Sofia and has studied screenwriting at the Moscow Film Institute. She holds an MA in Public Policy (CEU, Budapest) and conducted research on the cultural policy of Britain after WWII at the University of Oxford. She is a guest lecturer at the Cultural Studies Department of Sofia University and has published in the field of the cultural policies and practices of performing arts. Dessislava Gavrilova is founder-director of The Red House Center for Culture and Debate. Since 2005, she has also been director of the Center for Arts and Culture of the Central European University in Budapest. In 1997 she established the Open Society Institute Performing Arts Program in Budapest, directing it until 2000. She also directed the Performing Arts Program of the Soros Center for the Arts in Sofia from its establishment until 1996.

Raina Gavrilova

Raina Gavrilova graduated in History from Sofia University. She is an instructor in the history of Bulgarian Culture (XV-XIX centuries) and Deputy Head of the Department of Theory and History of Culture at Sofia University. From 2000 to 2001 Raina Gavrilova was Deputy Minister of Culture for Bulgaria. She has also served as Executive Director of the Open Society Foundation, Sofia (2002 – 2005). She is currently the Executive Director of the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE Trust).

Meglena Kuneva

Meglena Kuneva graduated from the Faculty of Law at Sofia University, where she wrote her Ph.D. thesis on environmental law. She worked as a journalist for the law program of the Bulgarian National Radio from 1987 to 1989 while an assistant professor at Sofia University. From 1990 to 2001, Kuneva was senior legal advisor to the Council of Ministers. In 2001 she was elected a member of the Bulgarian Parliament and appointed the same year Chief Negotiator of the Republic of Bulgaria with the EU and Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In May 2002 she was appointed Bulgaria’s Minister of European Affairs. On December 12, 2006 the European Parliament approved her candidature for EU Commissioner. Since January 1, 2007, Ms. Kuneva has been a member of the European Commission for Consumer Protection.

Stefan Tafrov

Stefan Tafrov holds a degree in journalism from Sofia University. He has worked as a staff writer for the weekly newspaper ABV, as an editor for the magazine Contemporary and as a translator from French and Italian. He has held a number of diplomatic posts, including counselor on foreign policy to President Zhelyu Zhelev; Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Philip Dimitrov; and Bulgarian Ambassador in Rome, London, and Paris. He also served as the permanent delegate of Bulgaria to the United Nations, New York. In March 2001 Stefan Tafrov was awarded the highest recognition given by the Legion of Honor.

Svetlozar Zhelev

Svetlozar Zhelev graduated in history from Sofia University and has worked in book publishing since 1998. Currently Zhelev is publishing director of the highly successful Bulgarian publishing firm Ciela. He is also a member of the managing board of the Bulgarian Book Association and the managing board of the program Access to Information.