From the Folds of History. A Forgotten Poetess (Slava Shtipliieva)

Over the past three decades, Bulgarian literary studies have made significant efforts to fill the knowledge gap regarding writers and works that have been overlooked by literary historiography, mainly due to ideological reasons. Nevertheless, there are still gaps, especially for the period between the two world wars. Among them is Slava Shtiplieva, a poetess well known and relevant in Bulgarian cultural life during the 1930s and 1940s. The article constructs a biographical and creative portrait of this writer. It traces her creative journey; the focus of the study is on the ten poetry books she published between 1932 and 1944. Alongside this, four other areas and literary genres in which Shtiplieva worked throughout her life are outlined. The study closes with a summary that articulates the contributions and specific features of Slava Shtipliieva’s creative work in Bulgarian literature of the 21st century.