"Tobacco Wedding" in Blackbird

You can now read my story "Tobacco Wedding"

in the Spring issue of Blackbird.

I'm also featured in Blackbird's reading loop, which offers "a closer look at six outstanding artists in earlier stages of their careers."

Below is an excerpt from the loop:

Miroslav Penkov calls on his Bulgarian heritage to land us in a story that marries folk tale to realistic narrative and the fantastic to the detailed mundane. Grounded in the intimacy of an oral transmission around a fire, the story also traverses that shaky ground where humor and broad comedy meet affection and earned sympathy. The narrator carries us with him on a short run through picaresque by-lanes that is definitely worth the trip.

... Man, it took me twenty minutes to translate this into decent Bulgarian for my family back home...

But this is not all. The Spring issue of Blackbird also features a story by my wonderful teacher Molly Giles and a poem by the great Ash Bowen. An incredible coincidence as far as I'm concerned.

Well, I hope you like the story.