How to overcome the obscure darkness of ignorance?

The pre-order launch announcement for the newest addition to Den’s Library series, the book My Sister Sofia... is for us not only an important tool for “measuring response,” that is, the readiness of readers to deal with this serious reading matter, but also a signal of strong support which our readership offers to Den’s projects.

Past year, the first buyer of the book Return to Tsarhorod was Vadym Matviiv, a lawyer from Lutsk. Following his example, hundreds of people invested in the book even before its publication. As a result, the publication quickly became a bestseller and went through three (!) editions in just a year! This year saw a new record. Over the first hour of pre-ordering, the book My Sister Sofia... was purchased by four readers!

“I own a lot of your books, including much-loved Return to Tsarhorod, I also like to reread Ukraine Incognita. In short, I own most, if not all books from Den’s Library,” commented the first buyer of the book, Dmytro Vizir from Kyiv. “I recently read an interesting article about Bulgaria in Den. Since I found it very interesting, I bought the book as soon as I saw the pre-order launch announcement. Our historical ties were very close already in the days of Kyivan Rus’. Bulgaria supports Ukraine today as well. We can say that it is our ‘close relation.’ They have achieved a lot. And what about us? What do we know about the Ukrainian-Bulgarian history? One can say that this is an obscure theme in the minds of Ukrainians. I look forward to the book My Sister Sofia..., hoping to find answers to all these questions there.” According to a good tradition, the first reader will get a copy signed by Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna.

“Every time I turn to the age of Yaroslav the Wise, I recall that he not only completed the St. Sophia Cathedral and made it the center of his empire – spiritual as well as political and cultural. He immediately founded a library and a school there. For the Divine Wisdom [called ‘Sophia’ in Greek and ‘Sofia’ in Bulgarian, like in the name of the Bulgarian capital. – Ed.] is great in itself, but it needs a ‘toolkit’ to work too,” Ivshyna remarked.

Den’s books provided this “toolkit” and served as an “open school” throughout all these years. After our first book Ukraine Incognita, which was published in 2002, we released over 20 books, and even two separate series called “Subversive Literature” and “Armor-Piercing Political Writing.” A new generation of Ukrainians has grown up that went to school while reading Den/The Day and received high-quality knowledge.

So, after unprecedented Return to Tsarhorod, it became clear that we needed to study this field in-depth, because it contained not only history, but important self-knowledge information as well. My Sister Sofia... was “born” from all our previous ideas. It represents a systematic work undertaken by this newspaper, which, unfortunately, has not become a component of the government’s cultural policy, but still, the small-scale efforts made by us and our collaborators have encouraged thousands of Ukrainians to read, think and act.

So why is this book a must read?

As Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna posted on Facebook: “Historical parallels between Ukraine and Bulgaria are fantastic! They reveal not so much a ‘space of ignorance,’ but rather an even more complex case, one of false ‘knowledge’ about a kindred people. It is safe to say that apart from our history which was deliberately distorted, falsified, and stolen, we have another one of the same kind... Do you remember Soviet-era sayings ‘a chicken is not really a bird, Bulgaria is not really a foreign country,’ or ‘Bulgaria is a fine country, but Russia is still the best’?

“The fables about dumb Ukrainians and the notion of Little Russia were created by these same creators of the ‘Russian World.’ After many disasters (which we know little about), Bulgaria has broken free! It is now part of the EU and NATO. Admittedly, it still has some unresolved issues. Still, these events marked a historic shift, a phoenix coming to life from the ashes. And what about us? How to recover? Where are the sources of strength? You can find the answers in the new book. It also holds as many meanings as you can discern.”

Readers of this book will learn that:

• without the beneficial effects of the Bulgarian culture, the spiritual ascent of Kyivan Rus’ would have never happened. This process, of course, was mutual, as spiritual world of Ancient Rus’-Ukraine was important for Bulgarians;

• the Bulgarian statehood, culture, national identity, just like the Ukrainian one, was revived many times in seemingly hopeless, catastrophic situations, literally from nothingness. What allowed it to happen – that is the big question;

• Mykhailo Drahomanov and Ivan Shishmanov, Ivan Vazov and members of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Society – this is the spiritual “chain of freedom” which unites Ukrainians and Bulgarians and is totally relevant in the 21st century as well;

• our peoples never fought each other, but fruitfully studied and mastered the neighbor’s achievements instead;

• studying Bulgaria’s experience, its rich history, full of brilliant victories and crushing disasters (which were ultimately overcome by the people), we will learn more about ourselves. Let us learn about Bulgaria!