Atanas Slavov was born and lived most of his life in Bulgaria. He came to DC in 1979, where he was a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, taught Bulgarian language for the State Department, and was a regular broadcaster for Voice of America radio. He returned to Bulgaria in 1992 for the last eighteen years of his life.
Slavov is the author of a novel in English, Mr. Lampedusa Has Vanished (1982), a memoir, With the Precision of Bats (1986), and a book of poems, The Dough of America is Rising in Me (1986). In addition, he translated works from English to Bulgarian by such authors as Charles Dickens, Graham Greene, William Saroyan, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He also edited a Gypsy-English Dictionary, and published a cookbook, Traditional Bulgarian Cooking (1998).
Slavov was fluent in Russian and Polish, as well as English and Bulgarian. A prolific author, he published numerous additional books in Bulgarian that have never been translated into English. In addition, he promoted Bulgarian folklore, and wrote screenplays and children’s literature.
The Homes
9011 Lindale Drive, Bethesda, MD
Atanas Slavov
9011 Lindale Drive
Located in Maryland