My Brother’s suitcase

MY BROTHER’S SUITCASE

Compiled and edited by Nevena Dishlieva-Krysteva

Translated from the Bulgarian by Ekaterina Petrova
English version edited by Angela Rodel
Cover art by Luba Haleva

First published in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2015 by ICU. Original title Куфарът на брат ми: Истории за пътя.

Copyright © Nevena Dishlieva-Krysteva, Katerina Stoykova, Ivo Ivanov, Neva Micheva, Gioia Guerzoni, Dimiter Kenarov, Kapka Kassabova, Babak Salari, Elena Panayotova, Pierre Mejlak, Albena Todorova, Javor Gardev, An Pham, Georgi Gospodinov, Vera Trayanova, Vladislav Hristov, Rana Dasgupta, Ekaterina Petrova, Zoya Marincheva, Edgar Villanueva, Dimitar Kambourov, Milena Varzonovtseva and Guerassim Dichliev

This is a book that traces the boundaries of home.

Twenty-two stories dedicated to the road.
Twenty-two essays about life on the verge of languages and worlds.

My Brother’s Suitcase is an anthology of twenty-two stories about the evasive nature of the modern concept of ‘e/im/migration.’ A book about the language we feel at home with. About the suitcases that we carry around the world—suitcases full of memories, old photos, and dreams of home.

“The reflective, funny and bittersweet stories in My Brother’s Suitcase made me rummage through my own baggage, accumulated over twenty years of expat life in Bulgaria. And like many of the authors here, I found that the more difficult borders to cross are actually those interior boundaries, heavily fortified with barbed concepts such as ‘home,’ ‘native language’ and ‘belonging.’ Kudos to Nevena Dishlieva-Krysteva and ICU for providing this travel guide for the immigrant’s soul!”

—Angela Rodel, translator