Born in Yambol, Bulgary, in 1968, Georgi Gospodinov is an innovative poet and a refined prose writer whose books are translated into more than 25 languages. He has been defined as the Milan Kundera of Bulgaria for his insights on the inner world and sometimes compared to Friedrich Dürrenmat for his rewriting of the myth of the Minotaur. He became popular with the award-winning novel The Physics of Sorrow. His recent novel, Time Shelter won the 2021 European Strega Prize. Mixing poetry with fiction, his style is both poetic and philosophical, funny and self-ironic.