Radoi Ralin (April 22 1923 – July 21 2004)

Radoi Ralin (pseudonym of Dimitar Stefanov Stoyanov) is a Bulgarian writer, poet, satirist and dissident. He was born in Sliven on April 23, 1922. He is the great grandchild of Tanyo Stoyanov, who is an associate of Vasil Levski and a friend of Stefan Karadja. Ralin's satiric works are extremely popular. They defend the people's sense of justice, they predict the explosive zones in the social space. His epigraphs reinvigorate and refresh purely folk molding traditions. Characteristic of his epigraphic art is the book "Spicy Peppers", burned in 1968 in the furnaces of the Polygraphic Workshop in Sofia, with several Bulgarian editions abroad. Radoi Ralin's satirical creativity rethinks and updates the traditions of the parable, the proverb, the proverb, the fable, the folk tale. Radoi Ralin dies on July 21, 2004. The square in front of the former cinema Iztok opposite Pliska Hotel in Sofia is named after him. On May 24, 2012 a bronze figure of Radoy Ralin, made by his friend, sculptor Georgi Chapkanov, is elevated on that square.