Ivan Vazov's nomination for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1917

On September 20, 1916, Ivan Vazov was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature for 1917. He was nominated by Professor Ivan Shishmanov. Vazov's work "Under the Yoke" was translated into Swedish in 1895 by Academician Alfred Jensen, who was the Nobel Committee's referent and rapporteur. As a translator of Bulgarian works he knew the Bulgarian artists Ivan Vazov and Peyo Yavorov, and with Pencho Slaveikov he maintained close relations. For a 1912 nomination for literature, Ivan Geshov, the chairman of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, offered Ivan Vazov, but Prof. Ivan Shishmanov declined the invitation to write a motivated opinion "before we are sure that our proposal will be taken into account." In the same year, Pencho Slaveikov was nominated, but his death ended the procedure for his candidacy. The possibility of Ivan Vazov being nominated again appeared in 1916. Then the advocate for Vazov Alfred Jensen was sent specially by the Nobel Foundation in Bulgaria for meetings with representatives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the group of Dr. K. Krastev. Vazov does not receive the prize. It was given to Karl Gustaf Werner von Heidenstadt, a Swedish writer and poet, member of the Swedish Academy. (Photo: www.nobelprize.org)