The Bulgarian Studies Association (BSA) is delighted to announce that Unsilencing: The History and Legacy of the Bulgarian Gulag (Cornell University Press, 2025) by Assoc. Prof. Lilia Topouzova has won the John D. Bell 2025 Memorial Book Prize.

The award was announced at the BSA Annual Business Meeting during the 57th ASEEES Convention in Washington, DC, on November 21, 2025. Topouzova’s book was praised for its groundbreaking contribution to Bulgarian Studies, revealing the history of the Bulgarian gulag and the “culture of silence” that followed. Committee members highlighted the book’s deep archival research, innovative approach, and attention to the voices of those who lived through state-sponsored repression.

About the Author:
Dr. Lilia Topouzova is Associate Professor of History and Creative Nonfiction at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information & Technology (ICCIT), University of Toronto Mississauga. Her research focuses on memory, repression, and transitional justice in Bulgaria.

Committee Highlights:

• The book exposes how Bulgaria’s system of state repression produced a lasting culture of silence, shaping the post-Communist transition and contemporary society.
• It is praised for its unusual focus on silences, non-linear narrative, and deep engagement with archival and self-published memoirs.
• Committee members called it a remarkable, timely work that uncovers overlooked stories while challenging readers to confront Bulgaria’s unresolved past.