Тодор Живков в българската поезия

The article analyses the image of the Bulgarian politician Todor Zhivkov in Bulgarian poetry during the socialist era. The paper examines four poetic anthologies titled The April Hearts [Априлски сърца] dedicated to him. Being published at the very end of the socialist regime, they show adaptation of Bulgarian writers to the political system. The issue of power intelligence is viewed not only in the specific texts but also in more general social processes. The paper thus explores the process of personal attitude in the framework of state-organised literary life. In the anthologies dedicated to Zhivkov, the newest poetic generation from the 1980s is absent, which is the result of the still not fully liberated ideological structure of literary life.