Long Coming of the Fire

Aco Šopov was born in 1923 in the town of Štip, in what is today North Macedonia. His firstbook was published by the underground press in 1944, when he was fighting in the anti-Fascistresistance. By the early 1950s, he was a major Macedonian poet, notable for his deep personallyricism. His volumes Not-Being (Nebidnina, 1963) and Reader of the Ashes (Gledač na pepelta,1970) are genuine masterworks, establishing his reputation as one of the founders of modernMacedonian poetry. Here Šopov’s poetry expands into philosophical and existential questions,even as it remains firmly rooted in an exploration of the self. The book The Song of the BlackWoman (Pesna na crnata žena, 1976) emerged from Šopov’s years as the Yugoslav ambassadorto Senegal (from 1971 to 1975), a period when he also produced an award-winning translation ofpoems by the poet and Senegalese president Léopold Sédar Senghor. His health began todeteriorate in 1977, and his struggle with illness is reflected in his last book of poems, The Treeon the Hill (1980). He died in 1982, at the age of 58. Collections of Šopov’s work have beentranslated into eleven languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Hungarian, andRomanian. The bilingual English–Macedonian collection, The Long Coming of the Fire is the first major edition of Šopov’s poetry in English.