Editing Georgi Markov (section)

== Life in Bulgaria ==
Georgi Markov was born on 1 March 1929, in Knyazhevo, a [[Sofia]] neighbourhood. In 1946, he graduated from the ''[[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]]'' (high school) and began university studies in industrial [[chemistry]]. Initially, Markov worked as a [[chemical engineer]] and a teacher in a technical school. At the age of 19, he became ill with [[tuberculosis]] which forced him to attend various hospitals. His first literary attempts occurred during that time. In 1957, a novel, ''The Night of Caesium'', appeared. Soon another novel, ''The Ajax Winners'' (1959) and two collections of short stories (1961) were published. In 1962, Markov published the novel ''Men'' which won the annual award of the Union of Bulgarian Writers and he was subsequently accepted as a member of the Union, a prerequisite for a professional career in [[literature]]. Georgi Markov started working at the Narodna Mladezh Publishing House. The story collections ''A Portrait of My Double'' (1966) and ''The Women of Warsaw'' (1968) secured his place as one of the most talented young writers in Bulgaria. Markov also wrote a number of plays but most of them were never staged or were removed from theatre repertoire by the Communist censors: ''To Crawl Under the Rainbow'', ''The Elevator'', ''Assassination in the Cul-de-Sac'', ''Stalinists'' and ''I Was Him''. The novel ''The Roof'' was halted in mid-printing since it described as a fact and in allegorical terms the collapse of the roof of the Lenin steel mill. Markov was one of the authors of the popular TV series ''[[Every Kilometer]]'' (''Всеки километър'' or ''At Every Milestone'') which created the character of the Second World War detective Velinsky and his nemesis the Resistance fighter Deyanov.

Although some of his works were banned, Georgi Markov had become a successful author. He was among the writers and poets that [[Todor Zhivkov]] tried to co-opt and coerce into serving the regime with their works. During this period Markov had a [[Bohemian style|bohemian lifestyle]], which was unknown to most Bulgarians.<ref>{{cite web|title=Who Killed Georgi Markov? |url=http://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/blogs/article/who-killed-georgi-markov/|website=yesterday.uktv.co.uk|access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref>