Literature in the Castle - Dimitré Dinev: Time of the Brave

Dimitré Dinev
Time of the Brave
[Kein & Aber, 2025]

About the Author

Dimitré Dinev was born in Bulgaria in 1968. In 1990, he came to Austria as a refugee, where he studied philosophy and Russian philology and soon began to publish screenplays, stories, and essays in German. His plays have been staged, among others, at the Burgtheater. He achieved his literary breakthrough in 2003 with his family novel "Engelszungen," which was received with great interest across Europe. In November 2025, he was awarded the Austrian Book Prize. Dimitré Dinev lives in Vienna.

About the Book

When the maid Eva attempts to end her life on the eve of World War I, she is instead swept into the arms of the young infantry lieutenant Alois Kozusnik. Instead of her life, she loses her innocence. This marks the starting point of an epic story composed of three major narrative threads that continues into the present day. What makes a person? How does one endure and survive years of oppression and violence? How does one repeatedly find the strength to hope and to love?
In his new novel, Dimitré Dinev explores the history of Europe and the central questions of human coexistence, creating a literary masterpiece of humanism and empathy.