Dimcho Debelyanov

Dimcho Debelyanov was born on March 28, 1887 in the town of Koprivshtitsa, under the name Dincho Velyov Debelyanov. He was the last child in the family of a tailor. In 1896 the family moved to Plovdiv, where Dincho studied at the male high-school Alexander the First. Then he wrote his first works but later burned them out. In 1904 the family moved to Sofia. The Savremennost (Modern Times) magazine was the first to publish Debelyanov’s poems: Na taz, koyato v noshti malchalivi (To the One Who in Silent Nights), Kogato vishnite tsaftyaha (When the Morello-Trees Were Blossoming), etc., as they were signed by Dimcho Debelyanov, who was just 19-years old. Until 1912 he worked as junior clerk, freelance journalist, newspaper reporter, proof-reader, editor, translator, stenographer and so forth, often working two or three jobs at once to make ends meet. At the end of 1912 he joined the army in the 22 Thracian infantry in the town of Samokov. Two years later he became a second lieutenant. On January 29, 1916 he arrived at the front where he spent 8 months. He died on October 2, 1916 in the battle near Demir Hisar as a company commander, at the age of 29. Debelyanov’s home was restored and turned into museum in 1958. Even today Dimcho Debelyanov’s works are still some of the most popular, moving and beloved poems in Bulgaria. There is hardly a single Bulgarian who have not heard at least one of the poems as Da se zavarnesh v bashtinata kashta… (Coming Back to Your Father’s Home…); Az iskam da te pomnya vse taka… (I Want to Remember You That Way….); Pomnish li, pomnish li… (Do You Remember, Do You Remember…); Spi gradat … (The Town Is Sleeping…); Smart (Death); Plovdiv and many others.