Balkans

Chris Sclafani compares how Donald Trump and Aleksandar Vučić use strikingly similar strongman rhetoric - attacking critics, dividing society and demanding loyalty.

Maya Ivanova reviews “Seven Kilos of Camomile” by Rumjana Zacharieva, a book about how communist Bulgaria imposed labour and ideology even on childhood.

Maya Ivanova reviews Theodora Dimova’s "Mothers", a novel about how Bulgaria’s post-communist transition to democracy fractured families, leaving parents struggling to adapt and children forced [...]

Maya Ivanova reviews "Baba Yaga Laid an Egg" - a wickedly funny, feminist reinvention of Slavic folklore.

Maya Ivanova explores how Zdravka Evtimova’s "Asylum for Men and Dogs" turns violence and inequality into a story of refusing to bow down.

Maya Ivanova shows how Anna Lazarova’s poetry reflects the loneliness and changing family life of post-1989 Bulgaria.

Maya Ivanova explores how Zdravka Evtimova’s “Blood of a Mole” uses compassion and dark humour to reveal the hidden realities of contemporary Bulgaria.

Flavia Stähli reviews "The Ministry of Pain" by Dubravka Ugrešić - a book about memory, nostalgia, trauma, and identity after Yugoslavia’s collapse.

Maya Ivanova examines how Rene Karabash's “She Who Remains” transforms the story of an Albanian sworn virgin into a powerful reflection on patriarchy, identity, queer experience and the [...]

Georgie Archer reflects on her time hiking the Peaks of the Balkans trail, a stunning route that zig-zags over the borders between Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania in the depths of the mountains. [...]