Kapka Kassabova

Anima, by the award-winning writer Kapka Kassabova, is a spellbinding journey into the heart of Europe's last moving pastoralists. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Pirin Mountains, this poignant narrative explores the lives of shepherds who still follow the ancient rhythms of transhumance—moving with their grazing animals in search of seasonal pastures. For thousands of years, humans and grazing...

The spellbinding new book by the prizewinning writer Kapka Kassabova tells the story of her time with the last moving pastoralists in Europe—a gripping portrayal of human-animal interdependence, and a plea for a different way of living. "A book that mesmerises with its sense of adventure and epic sweep, this is creative non-fiction at its best" – GUARDIAN Over the...

A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. Two vast lakes joined by underground rivers. Two lakes that have played a central role in Kapka Kassabova's maternal family. As she journeys to her grandmother's place of origin, Kassabova encounters a civilizational crossroads. The Lakes are set within the mountainous borderlands of North Macedonia, Albania and...

Set in the valley of the Mesta, one of the oldest inhabited river valleys in Europe and a nexus for wild plant gatherers, Elixir is an unforgettable exploration of the deep connections between people, plants, and place. 'Uplifting and beautifully written' - SPECTATOR 'Dark and mysterious and beautiful' - FINANCIAL TIMES 'Exceptional' - BBC WILDLIFE Over several seasons, Kassabova spends...

Magisterial and unforgettable - an intimate story of a Scottish Highland glen, from the prizewinning author of Border. This is the intimate story of a Scottish glen and its inhabitants, of whom I am one. From the powerful rivers that bring life and prosperity; to the Pictish cairns, undisturbed for centuries; to the meadows of bluebells, where deer emerge, God-like,...

Kapka Kassabova is a young Bulgarian émigré poet who writes in English but with a European imagination. Her well-travelled poems speak from different parts of the world and different moments of history, yet they always explore the many ways to be lost and disoriented: in a place, in the past, in fear, in love, in the very quickness of life....

When Kapka Kassabova was a child, the border zone between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece was rumoured to be an easier crossing point into the West than the Berlin Wall, so it swarmed with soldiers, spies and fugitives. On holidays close to the border on the Black Sea coast, she remembers playing on the beach, only miles from where an electrified...