Bulgarian writer, Miroslav Penkov wins BBC Short Story Award

Bulgarian author Miroslav Penkov has won the BBC International Short Story Award, for his entry East of the West. The winner was announced at a ceremony in London, broadcast live on Radio 4 arts show Front Row. Penkov takes the £15,000 prize, while the runner-up, South African writer Henrietta Rose-Innes, wins £2,500 for her story Sanctuary.  The BBC competition was opened out this year to include international writers, in honour of the London 2012 Games.The shortlist included stories from Deborah Levy, also shortlisted for this year's Man Booker prize; former winner Julian Gough; and Krys Lee, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, but brought up in the US. The judges said they were "unanimous" in their selection of Penkov's story, which is set during and after the Cold War in Bulgaria. According to organisers, East of the West "explores the difficulties of love, relationships and identity in a region
ridden with conflict".

"I wanted to write a story about those Bulgarians who... were severed from our country, and who inevitably will lose, if they haven't already, their sense of being Bulgarian," said Penkov.

"At the same time, I wanted to write a story about myself, abroad in America and in many ways alone, with a huge body of water between me and the people I love."