Alek Popov (born in Sofia, Bulgaria, 1966), graduated from St. Constantine Cyril Philosopher Lyceum for Ancient Languages and Cultures and later received MA in Literature from Sofia University St. Clement of Ohrid . Popov's short stories have been published in German, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Turkish, Italian, English, Croatian, Slovenian etc. Alek Popov is author of ... Read morethe novel Mission London based on his colourful impressions as Cultural Attache at the Bulgarian Embassy in the UK. Mission London was translated into 14 languages to date. The film after the novel became the most frequented Bulgarian movie for the last 20 years. It won the Unbribable Award of Transparency International Croatia's program Culture against Corruption in 2011. Popov's second novel The Black Box appeared in German, Serbian, Turkish and Polish. His most recent play - Blacksmiths was put on stage in 2012 and was nominated for the Askreer Awards. The story after the play was included in the anthology Best European Fiction 2011 (Dalkey Archive Press). Popov's third novel The Palavei Sisters was published in spring 2013. For his literary works Popov has received numerous awards including Elias Canetti Prize 2007; the Helikon Prize 2002; the National Drama Award Ivan Radoev etc. In 2012 Alek Popov was elected a corresponding member of Bulgarian Academy of Science in the field of Arts. He is member of the board of the Bulgarian PEN Centre and member of the editorial board of Granta-Bulgaria magazine. Show Less