The Third Edition of the University Week of the Book Was Opened

The third edition of University Week of the Book (27-31 March 2023) was opened in the presence of students and over 500 secondary school pupils who visited the University for the exhibition and the Open Doors Day. Over 15 publishers, 4 of which were university ones, had set up their stalls. Guests at the official opening were the Mayor of the Students district Petko Goranov and Georgy Toshev - journalist, writer, director, producer.

"The culture is a matter of national security and as a lecturer in this field I agree with this statement. Because without culture you cannot consider what is worth to defend. And it is our duty to the younger generation to preserve this culture in every aspect," said the Rector of the University and presented the upcoming events during the University Week of the Book. He outlined that one of the objectives of the UNWE Managing body is to turn the University into a cultural center, a university that spreads culture, shows culture – leading university in organizing events related to the culture.

27 March is also the World Theatre Day and the first books presented in the exhibition were biographies of great Bulgarian artists - Tsvetana Maneva, Nevena Kokanova, Katya Paskaleva, Stefan Danailov, Georgy Partsalev and Naum Shopov by the author Georgy Toshev.

The moderator of the event was Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetla Tsankova from the Media and Public Communications Department. She presented the author and his books in the Large Conference Hall emphasizing on the fact that Georgy Toshev is a long-standing friend of the UNWE and the Department. She presented the author whose name is associated with remarkable series such as The Other Bulgaria, The Unknown, The Children of the Other Bulgaria, not only as a journalist and a storyteller of amazing stories but also as an author of biographies of people - not just famous people, but cultural emblems. "They are an important part of our public memory that will be kept by what he has done. He shows that journalism is not a sprint but a marathon and Georgy Toshev is a successful marathon runner because all his projects prove that quality journalism can also be done in Bulgaria", said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetla Tsankova.

"Reading for me is related to the search for answers to difficult questions. The big answers and questions are in the books. The reading person is the awake person and only the awake person is the acting person. Only our actions can legitimize us as people", said Georgy Toshev addressing mostly to the young part of the audience. "What unites all my heroes is that they not only carry secrets but they are also very talented and decent people. And one more common quality - their careers are stable over the time", explained Georgy Toshev his motives to write the biographies of the great Bulgarian actors.

"Levsky is certainly the most famous, the most popular personality in Bulgaria, in all rankings he occupies the first place, no one has disputed his importance. But at the same time he is an enigma. It is a miracle that the Bulgarian people created, gave birth to this man, a psychological rarity, I am not convinced that it will happen a second time. I also have personal motives. My great-great-grandfather was one of Levsky's associates and companions, a friend of Dimitar Pushkov, and his name is carved on the memorial plaque in the village of Sopot in Lovech. So I have both professional and personal motives", explained the author the reasons for writing this second book.

The Rector greeted Prof. D.Sc. Ivaylo Hristov for the choice of topic and shared: "I was very impressed by Levsky's great organizational talent, to create such a great organization in those turbulent times, to motivate so many people who did not know each other, to take risks every day and every night - it is a great deed".

The third presentation was the monograph "Active Aging - Health, Social and Economic Determinants" by the authors from two UNWE Statistics and Econometrics Department - Prof. Dr. Veselka Pavlova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ekaterina Tosheva, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mariana Murgova and Atanas Dimov and from the UNWE Human Resources and Social Protection Department - Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ralitsa Pandurska.

The author was introduced by Atanas Dimitrov, Director of the Inter-University Centre for Career Development and one of the initiators of the re-publication of the book at the UNWE. "We, as a university with a 103-years of history, are passionate about memory and history and the opportunity for more people to experience the life of an encyclopedic personality combining many talents."