Aleko Konstantinov

Aleko Konstantinov, a cosmopolitan traveler, was the first Bulgarian to vividly depict his journeys to Western Europe and America. His writings from World Exhibitions in Paris, Prague, and Chicago offered Bulgarian readers, newly liberated from nearly 500 years of Ottoman rule, a portrait of the developed world. He is celebrated for his feuilletons and, most notably, for creating the character Bay Ganyo, one of Bulgarian fiction's most beloved figures. Konstantinov's literary contributions are marked by sharp satire and keen social observation.