The date of Vazov's birth is indisputable, although the poet didn't know it exactly. His mother, Suba, was neighbour of Mintcho Vazov's, who liked her beforehand. Ivan Vazov inherited series of human virtues from his father. His mother excessively influenced his development.
After finishing the primary school in Sopot, Mintcho sent his son to Kalofer, appointing him assistent teacher. After the years of exams in Kalofer, the young teacher returned to Sopot in his father's grocery to help him with his work. The next year his father sent him to Plovdiv to Naiden Gerov's school. There Vazov made his first steps as a poet.
He returned in Sopot and was sent again to Oltinitsa in Romania lately to study trade. But Vazov didn't show a keen enterest in trade. He was immersed in his poet world. Soon he left Oltinitsa and went to Braila where he met Hristo Botev, a Bulgarian revolutionary and poet. From Braila he went to Galatsi to his uncle. There he met Botev again.
In 1874 he joined the struggle for his country's liberation, and had to flee after the unsuccessful April uprising of 1876.
Vazov started writing his famous poems with Botev and some immigrants. After his stay in Galatsi he went to Istanbul. Arriving back to Bulgaria with the help of his father he started teaching. Vazov's next stay is in Svistov where he became a civil servant.