Lilyana Kovatcheva talks about her background and family, her education and her publishing experience. She names all her books and provides details on her first encounters with Romani literature and books about Roma in Bulgaria before elaborating on her motivation to write and contribute to the knowledge about and of Roma. She also reflects on the processes of language standardization, publishing and education. Kovatcheva tells about her experiences with networking with Roma in Europe and working in Romani and gender projects. She explains her academic research and experiences during the work on her PhD thesis which has been published in a book.

The interview took place in Kovatcheva’s office at the Centre for Educational Integration of Children and Students from Ethnic Minorities at the Ministry of Education in Sofia. As the office faces a parking place, occasionally there are background sounds audible from outside.