A story locked in tradition and innovation! Thus we can define the new issue of the only magazine for puppet theater in Bulgaria – KuklArt Magazine. The publication is released once a year and for the first time in its 14-year history it is bilingual – in French and English, as the main audience to which the issue is directed is international. The magazine was to represent Bulgaria at the World Congress of the International Association of Puppet Theaters UNIMA this year in Indonesia, and French and English are two of the organization's three official languages ​​(the third is Spanish). However, due to the ongoing epidemiological situation, the forum was cancelled and held online. But there is still a magazine, in a completely real paper format and for the first time with two author's covers.

224 pages locked between the origami of Kapka Kaneva, author of the English edition and the "embroidery" of Kalina Muhova – author of the French cover, and more than 250 photographs completely different for the two versions of the magazine. "This issue is entirely oriented to our colleagues all over the world," the editor-in-chief of the magazine Dr. Mihail Baykov told BNR’s Hristo Botev channel.

"The magazine has several traditional sections, one of which is 'History, Theory, Experience and Controversy.' This year in this column we decided to invite Prof. Slavcho Malenov to tell the whole story of the Bulgarian puppet theatre from its inception to the early 1990s. We wanted to remind you that we have an extremely ancient history in this art and we are one of the founders of the International Organization UNIMA. In 1929, the artist Elisaveta Konsulova-Vazova personally attended the founding of this oldest international theatre organization in Prague. In addition, Bulgaria is the third country in the world to establish higher education for puppet theatre in 1962 and we are one of the few countries that has a specialized magazine in this field. Then we invited Milena Milanova to present the methodology of one of the greatest reformers in the world of puppet theatre – Philippe Genty. Milena told us about her work with this extremely large figure in the puppet theatre realm. We also have an article about Bulgarian festivals. Our country is very rich in puppet theatre festivals, most of which are biennials. The material is extremely useful for our colleagues abroad, because it includes information about when each festival is held, how to apply for participation, whether there is a competition program and a jury, how to contact the organizers," Mihail Baykov explains.

The specialized magazine focuses on higher education for puppet theatre in Bulgaria. The real picture of the profession today is given by some of the most talented Bulgarian directors and scenographers of puppet theatre: Katya Petrova, Veselka Kuncheva, Marieta Golomehova, Elitsa Petkova, Iva Gikov and Ivaylo Nikolov. All Bulgarian puppet theatres are presented with a brief historical note, current management, international participation and awards.

With this bilingual issue "KuklArt" shows that the Bulgarian puppet art and its creators are on a world level, Dr. Baykov firmly believes.

"KuklArt" is a publication of the Association of Puppet Theatres UNIMA and was created after an the idea of ​​Kyriakos Argiropoulos, longtime director of the Sofia Puppet Theatre. It has been published once a year since 2008.

Edited by Vessela Krasteva (based on an interview of Sylvia Choleva of BNR’s Hristo Botev channel)

English version Rositsa Petkova