TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE: A TANGO STORY has received a string of great features and reviews, and also inspired this tango video animation commissioned by Portobello. It's already been viewed more than 5,000 times on YouTube and will be featured at the Glasgow Short Film Festival's 'Words Per Minute' literary and film event on 11 February.
Kapka's
memoir featured as the lead review in Psychologies magazine:
'Three reasons to read TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE: 1. For an insight into a hobby that turns into an obsession; 2. To go on an emotional journey; 3. For a searing account of heartbreak...Here's a woman discovering herself over a decade, growing up and changing, in an understated, unassuming and unusual EAT PRAY LOVE-type memoir.'
And from Olivia Cole in GQ: 'New Zealand, to Edinburgh, Berlin and Buenos Aires, part travelogue, part memoir, this is a sexy step through the myths around tango and its physical, emotional and psychological layers. You will want to learn.'
The Scotsman ran this interview (with a picture of Kapka and her tango shoes!): 'Kassabova is that rare thing, an author who excels in every genre. She's a published poet and novelist, a writer of travel guides, and of memoirs, whose earlier book, STREET WITHOUT A NAME, is an autobiographical travelogue about rediscovering her native Bulgaria. … TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE: A TANGO STORY is her touching and insightful chronicle of a ten-year obsession that dragged her around the world and back again by the heartstrings.'
A brilliant, glowing review has appeared in the Independent: 'An exquisitely crafted blending of travelogue, memoir, dance history and some seriously good writing on the human condition, TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE delves deep into the obsessive nature of tango fanatics and vividly depicts a world full of beauty and heartbreak, of love and loss...This mix of travel writing, personal experience and history is something that Kapka Kassabova has done before, and she's frankly brilliant at it.'
And it's not just the reviewers who are fans, TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE: A TANGO STORY has the mark of approval from the dance cognoscenti as well!
'A beautiful book, beautifully written …. Kassabova is brilliant on why we dance the Argentine tango, discussing the sense of melancholy and yearning experienced by anyone who has danced its steps or indeed listened to its music … an exquisitely written story.' -- Dance Today
In addition to those above, TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE: A TANGO STORY has received wonderful reviews in Time Out, Metro, Marie Claire and Big Issue, and press from New Zealand, (where Kapka lived after leaving Bulgaria) - a New Zealand Herald feature here - and it's been picked as a Book of the Year in The Listener: 'Equipped "with a pair of tango shoes, a dress, a silk fan, a city map with tango venues marked on it, and an eye mask - so that I can sleep through the days and dance through the nights", Kassabova takes us on a journey into tango - and her own heart. As she criss-crosses the globe in search of milongas, she explores tango's ecstasy and desperation, its unique subculture and exotic characters. A compelling read.'
Kapka was also interviewed by Harriet Gilbert on The Strand, with lots of lovely tango music.
Here is an audio review from Scottish blogger Alistair Braidwood.
'Tanguera' interviewed her for the Tango Hub site saying:' TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE doesn't disappoint - neither does it show off. It's an endearing, heartfelt account of one woman's life with (and without) tango'.
And here is Kapka Kassabova herself on the writing of TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE.
Kapka is currently at the Kolkata Literary Meet at the Kolkata Book Fair and has a busy year of festival appearances including the Aye Write Festival in Glasgow on 11 March (with a tango performance at the end, organised by them), the Oxford Literary Festival on 25 March, teaching at Arvon's Moniack Mhor site in Scotland, 9-14 April, and representing Bulgaria at the Poetry Parnassus Week at the Southbank Centre, 26 June-2 July.
And last but not least, TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE continues to ride high (#3 at the time of writing) on the Dance titles on Amazon, with an array of glowing 5 Star reviews!
For more info on Kapka and TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE, click here.