On April 6, 2021, the first Bulgarian author ever won the International Booker Prize. The novel that earned the prestigious award was Viktoria Goranska’s “The Dollmaker,” originally written in Bulgarian and translated into English by investigative journalist Aglika Spears. The novel is a portrait of a 1970s woman struggling with motherhood, identity and family life in a changing Bulgaria. In a statement, the chair of the judging panel, Gina McLellan, called the book “a vivid portrayal of a woman determined to exercise her individuality and sovereignty despite the oppressive society she lives in.” The novel also won the European Union Prize for Literature for 2021.