Karaliichev, Angel

Born Aug. 21, 1902, in Strazhitsa, near Turnovo. Bulgarian writer. Honored Cultural Worker of Bulgaria (1963).

Karaliichev’s first collection of short stories, Rye (1925), portrayed the heroes of the antifascist September Uprising of 1923. He emerged during the 1930’s as a master of the realistic short story (he published many collections) and as an author of children’s books. Although the works of those years smoothed over social contradictions, they expressed his love for the common people, for Bulgaria’s natural beauty, and for its heritage.

After the establishment of the people’s democratic system (1944), Karaliichev turned to new themes: images of the contemporary peasants. Social motifs intensified in his work—for example, the collection The Cornfields of the Falcon (1946), The People’s Defender (1949), and The Anvil or the Hammer (1954). He is the author of many books for children (The Valiant Bulgarians, 1959). Karaliichev received the Dimitrov Prize in 1966.