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

The doyen of Bulgarian illustration Lyuben Zidarov passed away

The oldest working artist in Bulgaria was 99 years old

4
Любен Зидаров
Photo: Ани Петрова

Master illustrator Lyuben Zidarov passed away on January 3, 2023 before he turned 100, the Union of Bulgarian Artists reports. "We say goodbye to one of the brightest personalities in Bulgarian art over the past century," the union said. 
Zidarov has illustrated the works of about 200 authors. He has been awarded numerous national and international prizes. Several generations of Bulgarians grew up with books with his magnificent illustrations. 
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
Among the most significant of these are Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Scheherazade's Tales, Bulgarian Folk Tales, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales and many others. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain.
He has been chosen by JK Rowling to illustrate the complete Bulgarian edition of the Harry Potter novels, published in 2019. "The illustrator must keep his own face, but he cannot go entirely out of the author, because he illustrates the writer's work. He has to get closer to his world, to his concepts, of course with his own soul and his own plastic vision. ...I have been more concerned with these problems, which have led me to interpretation, than with grafically recreating the literary work." This is how the artist introduced us to his creative laboratory in 2014 in an interview with Julia Petrova of BNR's Hristo Botev programme. 






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.

Gallery

More from category

Podkrepa trade union warns of a growing budget deficit

The growing risk of a high deficit ahead of the current and next budget requires timely, wise and sustainable decisions that should not lead to impoverishment of people, but to promoting the economy , states the Podkrepa Confederation of Lbour trade..

published on 8/14/25 11:19 AM

Fire near Kardzhali Dam poses threat to nearby villages

All night long, fire brigade teams and forest officials made every effort to prevent the large forest fire that broke out yesterday in the late afternoon near the Kardzhali Dam from spreading to the nearby villages of Ridovo and Snezhinkite. The fire..

published on 8/14/25 9:47 AM

Firefighters continue to battle the fire in Pirin Mountain

For the twenty-first day now, the fire in the Pirin Mountain continues to rage . There are thousands of fire outbreaks and they are being fanned by the wind . Two helicopters from the Air Force and two aircraft from European services have joined the..

published on 8/14/25 9:34 AM