“Crossing Borders of Times”‘One Man’s Journey to Search ForHis Ukrainian, Greek & Bulgarian Roots’ is a multigenerational saga where a grandfather and grandson unravel their family’s past through letters, dreams, and manuscripts to confront the pull of heritage and belonging. Why was this an important book for you to write?

In two short days on 10/04/2025 I will have Gala dinner & celebration when I will receive my International Impact Book Award 🏆my Oscar of books award, when my third sequel gained recognition in Hollywood, I felt ready to take this step.

I decided to submit my book to the International Impact Book Awards because this award is about more than recognition—it’s about sharing a story that can inspire others. My story begins in Bulgaria, where growing up under communism, it wasn’t easy to express a truth rooted in the Bible that the government didn’t allow. When my wife and I came to America, we carried only two suitcases and $200, but we also carried our faith, our stories, and our dreams.

For many years I looked for a traditional publisher or literary agent, but most doors were closed. Instead of giving up, I chose to self-publish. Today, I have written five books in English and two in Bulgarian, and my third English-language sequel—Crossing Borders of Time—has brought me here to Hollywood and this award.

To me, this recognition is proof that when you have a message and you persevere, the world will eventually hear it. My main message is simple: Never give up on your dream—because freedom and the opportunity to create are the greatest gifts a person can receive.”

This book was important to me because it represents both a personal and universal search for identity. I grew up under communist regime, surrounded by stories of displacement, resilience, and cultural memory, and I always felt that those voices—especially the quieter ones in the family—deserved to be heard across time.

By weaving together the experiences of a grandfather and a grandson, I wanted to show how heritage is not a static thing we inherit once and place on a shelf—it’s a living force that shapes how we see ourselves and the world. The letters, dreams, and manuscripts in the story are not just literary devices; they are metaphors for the ways we all try to reach across generations to make sense of who we are.

Writing Crossing Borders of Times was my way of honoring the struggles and sacrifices of those who came before us, while also asking what it means for the new generation to carry that legacy forward. It’s about belonging, yes, but also about courage—about daring to face painful truths and still finding the strength to carry them with love.

Your book blends memoir, novel, and meditation. How did you decide on this hybrid form to tell such a personal yet universal story?

From the very beginning, I felt that one single form wasn’t enough to contain the scope of this story. A traditional memoir would have kept me tethered to my own perspective, while a straight novel might have distanced me too much from the lived experiences that inspired it. What I wanted was a way to honor memory, imagination, and reflection all at once.

The memoir elements anchor the book in lived truth—those emotional landscapes that come only from direct experience. The novelistic passages allowed me to reimagine events, to step into the lives of ancestors and give voice to silences in the record. And the meditative sections provided the breathing space I needed to explore broader questions of time, belonging, and heritage, beyond just my own family’s story.

This hybrid form felt the most honest, because identity itself is layered—we live between fact and memory, between what happened and what it meant, between the past and the present moment. Blending these genres gave me the freedom to capture that complexity and, I hope, to offer readers not just a family story, but an invitation to reflect on their own.

George’s struggles with immigration and identity feel vivid and raw. Were these drawn directly from family experiences, or did you reshape them into fiction?

George is both personal and imagined. His struggles are deeply rooted in the real stories I grew up hearing—of leaving behind everything familiar, of carrying one’s culture across oceans, of learning to survive in places that were not always welcoming. Those accounts, especially from my family and community, gave me the emotional foundation for his journey.

At the same time, I didn’t want George to be a replica of any one individual. Instead, I reshaped those lived experiences into a character who could embody the universal immigrant condition—the constant negotiation between holding on and letting go, between remembering and reinventing. By fictionalizing parts of his story, I was able to protect the privacy of real people while also deepening the emotional truth.

So George is a mosaic. He carries the voices of my grandparents, the resilience of countless immigrants I’ve known, and the imaginative flourishes that allowed me to explore what isn’t always spoken aloud. In many ways, he became the vessel through which I could tell not just my family’s story, but the story of anyone who has ever felt torn between two worlds.

Alex’s search sometimes feels overshadowed by the past. Do you see this as a generational struggle we all face when trying to honor our roots while forging our own paths?

Yes, absolutely. I think every generation inherits both gifts and burdens. For Alex, the weight of history is so present—it arrives through letters, dreams, and stories that refuse to stay silent. That can feel overwhelming, almost as if the past is dictating the present. But that tension is real, and it’s one that many of us live with: how do we honor those who came before without losing ourselves in their shadows?

I believe it’s a universal struggle, especially in families marked by displacement or upheaval. Roots give us strength, but they can also feel like anchors. Alex’s journey is about learning to carry that inheritance without being consumed by it—understanding that honoring the past doesn’t mean repeating it, but rather finding ways to transform it into something new.

In that sense, his story mirrors what so many young people experience today: a longing for authenticity while still forging a future that belongs to them alone. The balance is delicate, but I see it as one of the most vital parts of identity—turning memory into possibility.

About the Author

Kiril Kristoff is an internationally recognized author whose works blend historical fiction, spirituality, and the immigrant experience. He is the recipient of the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, the International Impact Book Award (Author of the Year, Fiction and Historical Fiction), and honors from the Indies Today Awards. His writing has been featured in The Philadelphia Journal for its contributions to immigrant literature in diaspora.

📧 Email: kirilkristoff3@gmail.com

🌐 Website: booksbykirillristoff.com

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