The Dissident Satirist Radoy Ralin

Radoy Ralin, a wise man who lived a truly modest life, was also famous for the fact that he refused and always handed back all monetary awards he had ever received. At the beginning of the democratic changes in the early 1990’s, he returned the new car he had been given for his outstanding contribution as a writer and a public figure, stating that he wished it to be sold for charity, and the money should go to hospitals in Bulgaria.

Ralin is a pen-name. He was born Dimitar Stoyanov, 81 years ago in Sliven, southern Bulgaria. Radoy Ralin is heir to a famous Voevod - rebel leader in Bulgaria’s national liberation struggle against Ottoman domination - Tanyo. His father was the first printer, publisher and gallery owner in Sliven. Dimitar published his first poem when he was only eight. His first humorous works came out in 1939-1940. In the years of the Second World War, he published a clandestine anti-fascist bulletin, and was arrested. When Bulgaria joined the anti-nazi coalition he signed up as a volunteer and left for the front line. But his biography as a writer, in fact, began with his collection of poems “Soldier’s notes”, inspired by what he had seen at the front. And even though he graduated law, Radoy Ralin worked for literary and satirical publications, and was an editor at Bulgarian film studios. He never occupied executive positions. Throughout his life, Radoy Ralin worked in all genres of satire, and even penned a satirical essay-novel and a satirical “opera for singers without a voice”. He is the author of plays, film scripts, documentaries and cartoons. His works have been translated into 40 languages.