Rene Karabash

Rene Karabash (born July 8, 1989, Aleksandrovo, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian artist of many talents, well known for her work as an author, actor, poet, and screenwriter. Her novel She Who Remains—originally published in Bulgarian as Ostaynitsa in 2018 and translated into English by Izidora Angel in 2026—was nominated for the International Booker Prize 2026.

Life

Karabash, born as Irena Ivanova, grew up in a village called Aleksandrovo in Lovech province, a place where patriarchal norms were deeply ingrained—a fact that would later influence themes in her writing. After finishing her schooling at Exarch Joseph I in Lovech, Karabash earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Veliko Tarnovo in applied linguistics with English and French. She traveled to France to study literature before returning to Bulgaria to pursue a master’s degree in directing at the New Bulgarian University. In fact, her time in France broadened her worldview, and the encouragement she received from a teacher there inspired her to follow her passion for theater. She also adopted the pen name Rene Karabash while in France, combining the name her friends called her with a shortened version of her mother’s surname.

Career

Poetry, prose, screenwriting—Karabash’s writing repertoire spans a wide range. She began exploring poetry early, writing verses during her school days. Her first poetry collection, Halbotsi i peperudi (“Hips and Butterflies”), was published in 2014 and launched in places such as London and Prague. It was nominated for the Ivan Nikolov National Poetry Award, and Karabash went on an extensive reading tour with the collection alongside writers Iliyan Lyubomirov and Konstantin Trendafilov (also called Papi Hans). Her other compilations of poetry include 3/4 Lyubov (2019; “3/4 Love”), Bratovchedkata na Zorbas (2020; “Zorbas’s Cousin”), and Nyakoy me vika po ime (2026; “Someone Is Calling My Name”). Among her other literary creations is a short prose piece in the epistolary tradition, titled Pisma na Omar do badeshtata mu sapruga (2021; “Omar’s Letters to His Future Wife”). Her works have been translated into many languages.

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Karabash’s debut film appearance—as Gana, a nurse who steals patients’ ID cards and traffics them for identity theft in Bezbog (2016; Godless)—brought her instant acclaim, fetching her several best actress awards at the Locarno, Sarajevo, and Stockholm film festivals among others. The role and the accolades that followed were well earned, as Karabash had prepared rigorously for the part, from undergoing nurse’s training to even begging in a marketplace under the supervision of director Ralitza Petrova. She has been actively involved with theater as well, having performed onstage in her student days, and directed adaptations of the novels Les Yeux bleus cheveux noirs (1986; Blue Eyes, Black Hair) by Marguerite Duras and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) by Oscar Wilde. Karabash was also one of the writers of the screenplay for the 2025 television miniseries Te, valnite (We, the Waves), produced by Bulgarian National Television. Zaeshka Dupka (Rabbit Hole), the creative writing academy founded by her, is an entrepreneurial venture that offers courses to aspiring writers, who are trained and guided by acclaimed Bulgarian authors.

She Who Remains

In parts of Albania and the broader Balkans, an ancient custom allows women to live as men—dressing like them, taking up professions traditionally reserved for them, even heading households. These women, known as burrneshat, or “sworn virgins,” take a vow of celibacy and, in exchange, step outside the roles and rules usually imposed on women, exercising the authority generally reserved for men. Karabash’s debut novel, Ostaynitsa (2018; She Who Remains), is set high in the Albanian mountains. It follows Bekija, a young woman who becomes a “sworn virgin” to avoid being forced into an arranged marriage. She promises to remain chaste forever and takes on the name Matija, assuming the role of a son rather than a daughter within the family. However, her decision triggers a blood feud, in which a spurned groom has to kill a member of the bride’s family to restore his honor, thus setting in motion the disintegration of the family. Years later Matija recounts this tale of death, lost love, and betrayal to a visiting journalist, as long-hidden truths gradually surface.

Describing her writing process for She Who Remains, Karabash said:

The actual writing of the book took me only two months. The “voice” appeared suddenly and told the story in a single breath.

Written in the style of stream of consciousness, largely without full stops or capital letters, the novel does read like a narration in one breath, as if weaving an unbroken chain of thought that moves between past and present. Translated into more than 12 languages, the work is the first Bulgarian novel to have a Brazilian edition. In Bulgaria, the novel won the Elias Canetti Prize in 2019. The translations have attracted recognition, too. In 2023, the French translation by Marie Vrinat-Nikolov won the French PEN Club award and the English translation by Izidora Angel received the Gulf Coast Prize in Translation in the United States. It made the short list of the 2026 International Booker Prize.

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