“SKOPJE FELLOWSHIP" PROGRAM

EFI RIZA-SKYFA

Efi Riza-Skyfa was born and raised in Athens, where she lives permanently with her husband and daughters. She studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens, where she graduated from the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. Her love for books and literature led her to found, with her associates, the Enastron publishing house in 2004, which is actively involved in literature, prose and poetry, essays, philosophy and science. Enastron publications are now also published in languages other than Greek, while the catalog of publications now also hosts many translated books in collaboration with publishing houses in Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, etc., the editing of which she undertakes and coordinates with her associates.

MANOL PEYKOV

Manol Peykov is an owner and CEO of Janet 45 Print and Publishing, the 2x2 Digital Print Factory, award-winning literary translator and entrepreneur. He is also the co-creator and
co-owner of Pekarnata Sound recording Studios in Sofia, as well as the founder of Sofia Literary Agency, the only agency in Bulgaria, actively engaged in promoting and selling the rights of Bulgarian writers to foreign markets. Since 2009, he has organized more than 40 tours around Bulgaria with writers from all over the world, including Etgar Keret (Israel), Rawi Hage (Lebanon-Canada), Kader Abdolah (Iran-The Netherlands), Wendy Guerra (Cuba), Parinoush Saniee (Iran), Ray Kluun (The Netherlands), Juan Pablo Villalobos (Mexico-Spain), Rana Dasgupta (India-UK), Zeruya Shalev (Israel), David Albahari (Serbia-Canada), Milenko Jergovic (Bosnia-Croatia), Fabio Geda and Enayatollah Akbari (Italy-Afghanistan), Carlo Petrini (Italy), Leonardo Padura (Cuba).

The titles he published have received numerous awards, most notably the Krastan Dyankov Translation Award of Elizabeth Kostova Foundation (multiple times) and the Hristo G. Danov Award for Best Translation. The contemporary Bulgarian titles, published by Janet 45 are traditionally shortlisted or awarded with all of the possible national literary awards in Bulgaria.

RAJMONDA HIDA

Rajmonda Hida is born in Elbasan, on April 25, 1991;

Graduated from "Planetary" University, Department of Languages and Literature, in 2007;

Position--Director of External Relations and Copyright at Fan Noli Publishing House.
Represented Fan Noli Publishing House at fairs in Frankfurt, Paris, Geneva, Istanbul, Sharjah, Moscow, Beijing, etc.

GERGANA PANCHEVA

Gergana Pancheva has been the Managing Director of Sofia Literary Agency since 2022. The agency is the only one of its kind in Bulgaria, aiming to promote and distribute Bulgarian authors' works abroad, making Bulgarian literature accessible
to a global audience. Sofia Literary Agency represents more than 30 Bulgarian authors and their titles in the fields of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children’s books. Since its establishment, the Agency has managed to bring over 200 titles in translation to foreign languages, including the first Bulgarian novels translated in Brazilian Portuguese, Swedish, Indian languages and children’s books in Albania, Armenia, Croatia, Iran and Turkey after decades of silence.

Pancheva was the coordinator and initiator of the first and second editions of the Sofia International Literary Fellowship in Bulgaria which took place in 2024 and 2025. As of February 2026, Gergana is the first and only Bulgarian literary agent to proudly announce an International Booker Prize shortlisted novel -- She Who Remains by Rene Karabash as the title is published or in the works for more than 26 languages already.

ARISTEA ILIOPOULOU

Aristea Iliopoulou is a philologist and a graduate of the Department of Philology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), specializing in Linguistics. She holds a master’s degree from the Hellenic Open University in "Linguistics and Education," with research interests in Multilingualism and the role of community schools. She has extensive experience in the publishing sector, having been a member of Enastron Publishing since 2014, where she holds the position of publishing manager and text editor.

REXHEP HIDA

Rexhep has worked as Translator, Editor, Professor.
He was Chief of the Political department by the State Political Publishing House from September 1975 – May 1991. Director of the Publishing House Fan Noli from May 1991 to present. Director of World Bank for Albania from July 1995-June 2007. Publishing house “Fan Noli” is the first private publishing house in Albania, created in May 1991. It is one of the largest publishers in Albania, with the leading position on the Albanian book market. Until this moment they have published more than 2000 titles.