Elizabeth Kostova Collection – M2022.04

Table of Contents

Repository
UNC Asheville Special Collections and University Archives
Title
Elizabeth Kostova Collection
ID
M2022.04
Date [inclusive]
1986-2018
Extent
14 Linear feet
Description note
The collection includes Kostova’s materials related to the writing, editing, publishing, and promoting of her three novels, The Historian, The Swan Thieves, and The Shadow Land. Included are research and notes from the initial phases of the books, drafts and revisions of texts, page proofs with corrections and editorial comments, correspondence with publishers and editors, promotional materials, book tour itineraries, reviews, and other materials. The collection also includes correspondence with Laura Esther Wolfson, an award-winning writer and Kostova’s life-long friend.
Location
Located in Special Collections, annex shelf 4.
Language
English, with some content in Bulgarian and other languages
Citation

[Description of item], Elizabeth Kostova Collection, D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina Asheville.

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Biographical Information

Elizabeth Johnson Kostova is the author of three best-selling novels: The Historian (2005), The Swan Thieves (2010), and The Shadow Land (2017). The Historian was the first American novel to debut at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller lists and has been translated into 40 languages. Her other publications include essays, poetry, and short fiction, as well as a collaboration with architect Anthony Lord on his book 1927: The Good-natured Chronicle of a Journey. 

Kostova was born in Connecticut in 1964, and holds a B.A. in British Studies from Yale College and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Michigan. Her family is from Asheville and has a rich heritage in newspapers, publishing, and education.  Her great-grandfather, George Stephens, was co-owner of the Asheville Citizen, and her grandfather, George Myers Stephens, was an editor and publisher who founded the Stephens Press and was a charter member of the Board of Advisors of the Appalachian Consortium. Her father, David Alan Johnson, earned a Ph.D in Regional Planning from Cornell and was a professor at Syracuse University, Ball State University, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Her mother, Eleanor Stephens Johnson, is a librarian.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

UNC Asheville Special Collections and University Archives

Ramsey Library, CPO # 1500
One University Heights
Asheville, North Carolina, 28804-8504
828.251.6645
speccoll@unca.edu

Access note

The collection is open for research. Copyright is held by Elizabeth Kostova

Custodial History

Donated by Elizabeth Kostova

Accruals note

Additional accruals are expected.

Processing Information

Processed by Gene Hyde.

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Collection Inventory

Box 1: The Historian 

  • Folder 1:  Historian – research file
  • Folder 2: Earliest notes, drafts
  • Folder 3: 1996 Incomplete rough draft
  • Folder 4: Notes
  • Folder 5: Marked “early drafts”

Box 2: The Historian 

  • Folder 1: September 2002 draft, part 1
  • Folder 2: October 2002, first two chapter drafts
  • Folder 3: Part II draft – undated
  • Folder 4: Part III draft – undated

Box 3: The Historian 

  • Folder 1: Excerpt and email with notes about Romanian – January 2004
  • Folder 2: Draft with corrections, pp. 1-212. Undated
  • Folder 3: Various sections with corrections. Undated
  • Folder 4: “Corrections entered/ old drafts” Undated

Box 4: The Historian

  • Folder 1: Corrections (Chapters 29-30 excerpts)
  • Folder 2: “Draft 2” Corrections (Chapter 23,29)
  • Folder 3: Spring 2004 draft of novel
  • Folder 4: “Last Corrections,” editor’s notes and email, January 2005

Box 5: The Historian and MFA class notes 

  • Folder 1: Notes from Balkan History tutorial, Dr. John Fine, April 2003
  • Folder 2: Fiction workshop notes with other students, September 2003
  • Folder 3: Corrections and edits
  • Folder 4: Corrections and edits
  • Folder 5: Excerpt, Part I (draft)
  • Folder 6: Part III, excerpt with corrections

Box 6: The Historian – spiral bound drafts, full manuscript 

  • Part I
  • Part II
  • Part III

Box 7: The Historian

  • Corrected master draft of full manuscript with title page, Library of Congress catalog page, etc.

Box 8: The Historian

  • “1st Pass Pages” Little, Brown page proofs with corrections.

Box 9: The Historian

  • “2nd Pass Pages” Little, Brown page proofs with corrections

Box 10: The Historian

  • “1st Pass Pages – Master” Little, Brown page proofs with corrections (dated 12/30/04)

Box 11: The Historian

  • Full manuscript with edits (missing a few pages at beginning and end) (undated)

Box 12: The Historian

  • Folder 1: Audiobook script – sections from “Version #1” and letter from Linda Ross Korn, Producer, Time Warner Audiobooks (February 7, 2005)
  • Folder 2: Audiobook script – partial script from “Version #3”
  • Folder 3: Historian manuscript with editorial comments, responses (undated)

Box 13: The Historian

  • Box marked “Historian drafts” containing most of the manuscript with editorial comments and some sentences in bold face font

Box 14: The Historian

  • Folder 1: Passages cut from The Historian
  • Folder 2: MFA Thesis grade report for The Historian manuscript (April 29, 2004), outline for history class on Constantinople
  • Folder 3: Letter from Little, Brown editor Reagan Arthur with comments on manuscript, blurb from George Saunders, “Three Women” graphic timeline
  • Folder 4: “Notes – Historian“
  • Folder 5: Historian research – “The Bulgarian Bogomil Movement,” article by John V. A. Fine, historian. Also a list of Fine’s publications
  • Folder 6: Historian – Byzantium research
  • Folder 7: Historian – Ottoman Empire research
  • Folder 8: Historian – draft edits
  • Folder 9: Historian research – Cheslyn Jones (chapters related to Byzantium from The Study of Liturgy)
  • Folder 10: Historian research – Pakourianos
  • Folder 11: Historian research – monasticism research
  • Folder 12: Historian research – Origen
  • Folder 13: Historian notes (June 2002)
  • Folder 14: Historian research – John Lawson article on Greek folklore
  • Folder 15: Little, Brown correspondence and Historian edits

Box 15: The Swan Thieves 

  • Folder 1: TST – Early tries, notes, starts
  • Folder 2: TST – Drafts
  • Folder 3: TST – Rough draft, July 2004 (through page 201, with extensive notes)
  • Folder 4: TST – Rough draft, July 2004 (through page 427, with two pages of notes on “ending the book”)
  • Folder 5: TST – Submission draft
  • Folder 6: TST – Excerpts marked “discuss with Reagan (Arthur)”
  • Folder 7: TST – Submission draft with editorial comments

Box 16: The Swan Thieves 

  • Folder 1: TST – Revision Draft page proofs with edits from Little, Brown editor Reagan Arthur
  • Folder 2: TST – Page proofs in book layout with edits, September 2009

Box 17: The Swan Thieves

  • Folder 1: TST – Revision draft – Final, marked “master”, July 9
  • Folder 2: TST – Master proof, author set, with letter from Senior Copyrighter Karen Landry. August 28, 2009

Box 18: The Swan Thieves 

  • Folder 1: TST – Rough Draft marked  “Draft – sections moved (dummy)” – part narrative, outline, and novel ideas. December 2008
  • Folder 2: TST – early notes for TST – initial title ideas included The Painter and Three Women
  • Folder 3: TST – notes, rough draft of novel THS (July 2004)
  • Folder 4: TST – notes
  • Folder 5: TST – research file
  • Folder 6: TST – Submission draft – partial (pp. 243-703)

Box 19: The Swan Thieves

  • Folder 1: TST – Copyedited manuscript for final review from Karen Landry, Copyeditor, August 28,2009

Box 20: The Swan Thieves

  • Folder 1: TST – Manuscript marked “initial edits by my Little, Brown editor Reagan Arthur”

Box 21: The Shadow Land

  • Folder 1: Notes for Alexandra and Neven, the working title for what became The Shadow Land
  • Folder 2: Alexandra and Neven drafts, 2010
  • Folder 3: Alexandra and Neven – work, reading, drafts
  • Folder 4: Alexandra and Neven plot summary
  • Folder 5: Alexandra and Neven 2009, notes/places (includes maps, travel notes to Bulgaria)
  • Folder 6: Alexandra and Neven – Research and reading, 2013

Box 22: The Shadow Land

  • Folder 1: TSL manuscript marked “for checking” with edited pages removed, stapled together, and marked “done”

Box 23: The Shadow Land

  • Production materials from publisher for TSL
    • 9/09/2016 – manuscript marked “settings”
    • 11/02/216 – 1st Pass manuscript

Box 24: The Shadow Land

  • Production materials from publisher for TSL
    • 01/09/2017 – 3rd Pass manuscript
    • 01/23/2017 –  manuscript marked “PDF blues”

Box 25: The Shadow Land

  • Production materials from publisher for TSL
    • 01/27/2017 – manuscript marked “revised PDF blues”

Box 26: The Shadow Land

  • Folder 1: Alexandra and Neven, third draft, November 2014
  • Folder 2: Alexandra and Neven, final draft with line edits, February 2016

Box 27: The Shadow Land

  • Folder 1: Typewritten draft with edits
  • Folder 2: Page proofs with edits/comments
  • Folder 3: The Shadow Land book tour itinerary

Box 28: The Historian publicity, press coverage, book tour

  • Folder 1: Asheville, WNC press coverage, events
  • Folder 2: Publisher’s publicity, book tour information
  • Folder 3: U.S. reviews and press coverage (1 of 2)
  • Folder 4: U.S. reviews and press coverage (2 of 2)
  • Folder 5: International press reviews and press coverage

Box 29: The Swan Thieves book tour, press coverage, publicity, and other materials 

  • Folder 1: Publisher promotion for The Swan Thieves
  • Folder 2: Australian and New Zealand The Swan Thieves book tours
  • Folder 3: International press and reviews of The Swan Thieves 
  • Folder 4: U.S. press and book events for The Swan Thieves
  • Folder 5: Western North Carolina press, reviews, and book events for The Swan Thieves
  • Folder 6: Various publisher covers of Elizabeth Kostova’s novels
  • Folder 7: Book tour memorabilia from The Historian and The Swan Thieves
  • Bound volume: Reviews and press materials from Spain about The Historian 
  • Bound volume: Reviews and press materials from Spain about The Historian 

Box 30: Assorted materials

  • Copies of The Historian translated to Chinese (simplified), Chinese (complex), Indonesian, and Korean
  • Dracula (Bram Sroker) with an introduction by Elizabeth Kostova, Back Bay Books, 2005
  • “2006 Book Sense Book of the Year – Fiction – The Historian” (American Booksellers’ Association) Award
  • Honorary citizen award to Elizabeth Kostova from “‘The Book Town,’ Tvedestrand, Norway,” 2007
  • The Historian publicity materials (CD Rom and DVD)

 Box 31: Elizabeth Johnson (Kostova) / Laura Esther Wolfson Correspondence 

  • Folder 1: Laura E. Wolfson writings
    • “Proust at Rush Hour,” The Sun, March 2009
    • “The Bagel in the Snowflake,” North Atlantic Review, Spring 2010
    • “Two Cab Drivers and a Masseuse,” North Dakota Quarterly, Summer/Fall 2010
    • “Haunting Synagogues,” Bellingham Review, Spring 2011
  • Folder 2: Childhood correspondence between Elizabeth Johnson (born 1964) and Laura Esther Wolfson (born 1965) – 1975-77
  • Folder 3: Childhood correspondence between Elizabeth Johnson and Laura Esther Wolfson  – 1977-78
  • Folder 4: Childhood correspondence between Elizabeth Johnson and Laura Esther Wolfson – 1979
  • Folder 5: Childhood correspondence between Elizabeth Johnson and Laura Esther Wolfson – 1980
  • For Single Mothers Working as Train Conductors, Laura Esther Wolfson. University of Iowa Press, 208.(Winner Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction, 2017)

Map Case:

  • National and international posters promoting book events for The Historian