Nikolai Grozni, (born Nikolay Grozdinski, , March 28, 1973) is a multilingual Bulgarian-American novelist, short-story writer and musician. Background Grozni was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. After being accepted to the National Music School "", he trained to become a concert pianist, winning his first in Salerno, Italy, in 1983. Following the political changes after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1992 Grozni left Bulgaria to study Jazz and composition at Berklee College of Music, Boston. In 1995, Grozni left for India to become a Buddhist monk. He spent four years in Dharamsala, studying at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics before joining Drepung Monastery in South India in 1999, where he stayed for six months. The five years he spent in India would become the inspiration for his three works in Bulgarian, as well as for his memoir in English: "Turtle Feet: The making and unmaking of a Buddhist monk." Grozni holds an MFA in creative writing from Brown University. Grozni and his wife, Danielle Trussoni, were featured in an episode of Season 2 of This American Life (TV), in which he discussed his dislike of mowing the lawn. Writing Lives of Idle Men and Degenerate Mystics. (short stories, published in Bulgarian in 2000) Asleep In the Great Emptiness. (a novel, published in Bulgarian in 2001) Someone put a Spell on Existence. (a novel, published in Bulgarian in 2002) Turtle Feet, New York Times Editor’s Choice (memoir, Riverhead, 2008) Wunderkind (a novel, Free Press, 2011) Farewell, Monsieur Gaston (a novel, East West, 2014) Claustrophobias (short stories, Begemot, 2016) Heliotropes (poems, Begemot, 2020) Songs for the Dust (poetry collection, 2021) Grozni's short fiction has appeared in The Guardian, The Seattle Review, and Harper's Magazine. Reviews New York Times: Turtle Feet Asleep in the Great Emptiness People Magazine:Turtle Feet Brown Alumni Magazine: Turtle Feet Lives of Idle Men and Degenerate Mystics Christian Science Monitor: Turtle Feet Interviews BCS News Magazine Powell's Books Brown Alumni Magazine Lives of Idle Men and Degenerate Mystics References External links Author's website New York Times: The Ghost of Revolutions Past''.' (OP-ED Contributor, February 14, 2011) Asleep In the Great Emptiness,Someone put a Spell on Existence Three Bulgarian books published short story in The Guardian Bulgarian writings Berklee studies International Writing Program in Iowa, 2001 (bio) Wunderkind publication Brown University Alumni Magazine Turtle Feet NYT editors’ choice 1973 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American male novelists Bulgarian