Kiril Zlatkov - When I Want to Keep Silent

An unusual book appeared in Bulgaria in 2014, and was later translated into several languages, including Italian, with serious interest from the public and critics. At first glance, this is a book that does not fit into our idea of ​​a bestseller. It tells a laconic and thoughtful story about a different kind of bear, one for whom words are not the strongest way to communicate. In addition to words, it has music, dreams, reverie, contemplation, self-knowledge... The messages of Zornitsa Hristova, author of the text, and Kiril Zlatkov, the illustrator of When I Want to Keep Silent, come together somewhere between words and images, accumulating silent experiences, just like with the bear itself. It lies on a white horse, sings its song together with a seagull, and feels the light from between the clouds like a gentle caress. Kiril Zlatkov achieves brevity and silence in the book with compositions saturated with intense strokes, worked at length, in which everything is built with precise attention and mastery. Little pearls of fruit, candies, skies with fluffy clouds, but most of all – the teddy bear, hidden in his fluffy fur, drawn stroke by stroke… As if this density of lines opposes the echoing desire of this extraordinary hero to convey everything to us only with silence. The captivating image of the teddy bear with closed eyes was the face of the Bulgarian stand in Bologna in 2024, where he won many friends.