Alek Popov, a prose writer and playwright, was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1966. He graduated from St. Constantine Ciril Philosopher College for Ancient Languages and Cultures in Sofia and later received his Masters of Arts degree in Bulgarian Language and Literature from the University of Sofia. Alek Popov is the secretary of the Bulgarian P.E.N. Centre.
Alek Popov has won several literary awards including the National Radio's Pavel Veshinov Award for the best criminal short story; the Graviton Award for best science fiction; the Raško Sugarev Award for best short story; the prize Helicon for best prose book of the year, 2002; the annual prize of Clouds magazine for the English translation of “Mission London”, 2004; the National Prize for Drama “Ivan Radoev”, 2005 and most recently the Elias-Canetti Award 2007.
His new novel "The Black Box" (2007) was number one for weeks in the bestseller lists in Bulgaria. It is a satire about gold diggers in the West and the East and about the yearning for happiness shared by successful people and underdogs.

Six collections of Popov’s short stories have been published in Bulgaria: “The Other Death”, Narodna Mladez, 1992; “Nasty Dreams”, Reporter, 1994; “Games of Magic”, Otechestvo/Cultura, 1995; “The Cabbage Circle”, Anubis, 1997; “The Way to Syracuse”, Literaturen Forum, 1998; “Advanced level”, Zvezdan, 2002; “Abagar”, 2003.
His first novel “Mission: London” based on colourful impressions from his years as Cultural Attaché at the Bulgarian Embassy in the United Kingdom appeared in 2001 and has three editions so far. His collection of essays, “The Radical Thinker’s Companion” was published by BTA (Bulgarian Telegraph Agency), 2005; “The Mythology of Transition”, selected works, 2006, published by Zacharii Stoyanov, Sofia. His latest novel “The Black Box” was published in May 2007, published by Zacharii Stoyanov.

Alek Popov is author of several radio-plays, broadcast by the Bulgarian National Radio: “Together Again”, 1994; “Buba-Lazy”, 1995; “The Butcher of the Red Valley”, 1996; “The Bank of All Universe”, 1997; “Mission: London”, 2004.

Popov’s short stories have been included in several anthologies:
”Bulgarische Erzählungen des 20 Jahrhunderts”, Insel Verlag, Germany, 1996;
”Antologija kratke priče Bugarske”, Bagdala Krusevac, Serbia, 1998
”Les Belles Étrangeres”, L’esprit de Penincules, Paris, France, 2001;
”Balkan Literature”, The Macedonian P.E.N. Review, Skpopie 2001;
”Voices from the Faultline” (a Balkan Anthology), ZayuPress, US, 2002
”Bulgarian Prosa”, Wieser Verlag, Austria, 2005
”Ciel Nocturne”, L’Inventaire, Paris, 2006
”Antilogia del Racconto Bulgaro”, Ciuseppe Dell’Agata, Padova, Italia, 2006

His novel “Mission: London” was published in:
Serbian from Geopoetica, trans. Maria-Joanna Stojadinovic, 2004;
Hungarian from Kijarat Kiado, trans. Petar Krasztev, 2005.
French from Editions Alvik, trans. Marie Vrinat-Nikolov, 2006
Macedonian, from Detska Radost, trans. Alexandar Prokopiev, 2006
German, from Rezidenz Verlag, trans. Alexander Sitzmann, 2006

Books of short stories and essays in foreign languages:
”Russisches E-mail”, trans. Alexander Sitzmann, Sukultur, Berlin, 2005
”The Radical Thinker’s Companion”, trans. Maria-Joanna Stojadinovic, Geopoetica, Belgarde, 2007.
”Droga do Syrakuz”, edited by Majgolata Wnuk, Scriptum Krakow, 2007