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

Weather forecast: Sun and rain on Saturday

Saturday will get off to a sunny start in Eastern and in some isolated regions of Western Bulgaria. Over the rest of the country there will be considerable clouds. There will be rain over Central Bulgaria and over the Western half of the country...

published on 5/30/25 6:45 PM

Parliament urges Skopje to respect commitments regarding the rights of Bulgarians

The National Assembly unanimously adopted a decision on the Republic of North Macedonia's progress in the EU accession process . In line with the 2022 European Consensus, the MPs expect Skopje to develop and present a targeted action plan for protecting..

published on 5/30/25 6:30 PM

The natural gas price for June is BGN 64.32/MWh

The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission has approved a price of BGN 64.32/MWh (EUR 32.88) for natural gas in June, excluding taxes and levies. Bulgargaz will sell natural gas to final suppliers and persons licensed for the production and transmission..

published on 5/30/25 4:39 PM