Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

A novel by Ilko Minev is a bestseller in Brazil

Photo: BTA/Personal archive

The novel "Onde estão as flores" ("As Flowers Go: Escape to Homeland Amazonia") by Bulgarian writer Ilko Minev ranked second in the list of best-selling books in Brazil for the period 20-26 March 2023, the website Ploshtadslaveikov reported. 

The novel's protagonist, Licco Hazan, is an elderly man born in Bulgaria who settles in Amazonia. The book recounts the little-known and intensely intriguing story of how 50,000 Bulgarian Jews were rescued from the gas chambers during Nazi domination of Europe, details the flow of Jewish immigrants to the country's sparsely populated northern Manaus region and advocates, without ideologizing, a world without war, the book's synopsis in the ranking states.

In a 2018 interview with Radio Bulgaria's Albena Bezovska, Ilko Minev tells how he ended up in Brazil: 'In 1969, something happened in my life that surprised me and turned me into a dissident. In fact, a very good friend of mine became a dissident and the State Security did not believe that I was not involved. It became difficult for me, it was clear that I had no future in Bulgaria. The opportunity arose to leave the country and I went to Belgium, where I studied economics, and in 1972 I went to Brazil. Soon after my arrival I went to Manaus for three months and I have been there for 46 years now."




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Soprano Aneta Todorova and the initiatives of the Orpheus Culture and Art Association in Brussels

The Bulgarian-Belgian Orpheus Association for promoting culture and art is organizing a concert in Brussels for St. Valentine's Day and the Day of Trifon Zarezan. The concert dedicated to love and wine will feature pianist Antoniya..

published on 2/6/25 12:32 PM

Sofia International Film Festival presents a record number of Bulgarian films

An exceptional festival as always, but what is especially remarkable for the 29th edition is the presence of Bulgarian cinema. Out of about 180-200 films in the program - feature-length and short, about 60 titles are Bulgarian. This..

published on 2/4/25 1:26 PM

Bulgaria can now appear on the map of European geometric art

Abstract, objectless, geometric – this is an entire concept of meaning and design on which 20th century art is based. The leading and connecting idea in it is the freedom of the author, but also of his or her audience. Visually, through geometric art,..

published on 2/4/25 1:01 PM