Miroslav Penkov - East of the West

My dear friends in Arkansas who, lucky me, are too many to thank individually. My friends and colleagues in Denton, for all their support. My Bulgarian friends who stuck by me across continents and years: Botzata, Boyan and his family, Ivcho, Oto, Traycho and Tsveti.

My agent, Sorche Fairbank, who believed in the stories from the very beginning, for her friendship, editorial help and encouragement.

The editor of this book, Courtney Hodell, who saw promise in the stories before they were ready, and did not tire until they were; who taught me much about writing, and, as a side effect, tormented me greatly. You have my deepest gratitude.

Mark Krotov, who was always ready to help. Marion Duvert, Amanda Schoonmaker, Wah-Ming Chang, David Chesanow, Michelle Crehan, Jonathan Lippincott, Jennifer Carrow, Debra Helfand, Brian Gittis, Hanna Oswald and everyone else at FSG who worked so hard to make this book possible.

Brett Lott, Donna Perrault and the staff of The Southern Review . Paula Morris, Sabina Murray, Heidi Pitlor, Salman Rushdie, Andrew Blechman, Hannah Tinti. The Walton Family and the Lily Peter Foundations at the University of Arkansas and Bob and Louise Garnett for their support of my writing.

My wife, for all her love and encouragement.

My family back home, but especially my grandmas and grandpas. My parents.

My dear Bulgaria, who I return to, always, in my thoughts. And forgive me, beautiful Bulgarian language, for telling stories in a foreign tongue, a tongue that is now sweet and close to me.

Thank you, kind reader, for reading.

Miroslav Penkov was born in 1982 in Bulgaria. He arrived in America in 2001 and completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology and an MFA in creative writing at the University of Arkansas. He has won the Eudora Welty Prize in Fiction, and his story “Buying Lenin” was published in The Best American Short Stories 2008 , edited by Salman Rushdie. He teaches creative writing at the University of North Texas, where he is a fiction editor for American Literary Review .