Georgian Writers’ House finishes its participation in Paris Book Festival

Georgia: The Georgian Writers’ House finished participating in the Paris Book Festival by presenting Temur Babluani’s book.

From April 12 to April 14, 2024, the Georgian Writers’ House, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, participated for the first time in the Paris Book Festival with a national stand.

Writer and filmmaker Temur Babluan presented the French translation of his book, “Sun, Moon and Bread Field,” together with director Sofio Babluan. The book attracted great interest from the attendees. With this event, the Georgian Writers’ House completed its participation in the Paris Book Festival.

It is noteworthy that Temur Babluani’s book has received a very good response in the French press and literary circles. There is a great interest in the author now, not only as a famous filmmaker but also as a writer. The book already has a reader in France. It was published by the publisher Le cherche-midi and translated into French by Maia Varsimashvili-Rafael.

Georgian Minister of Culture and Sports Tea Tsulukiani, Director of the Writers’ House Ketevan Dumbadze, Georgian Emergency and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Republic of France Gocha Javakhishvili and literary sphere representatives attended the events of the last festival day.

The 2024 Paris Book Festival and Georgian National Stand were opened in Grand Palais Éphémère. Georgian Writers’ House introduced Georgian culture to the European community, publishers, authors, and art sphere representatives and held several important business meetings.

Georgian Writers’ House presented an event at the festival – “From Hagiography to Postmodernism.” Also, an event titled “Sixteen Centuries of Continuous Literary Process” was held, which discusses Georgian literature, Georgian-French literary relations, and the union of Georgian and European literature. 

Georgian Emergency and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Republic of France Gocha Javakhishvili and Doctor of French Philology Professor Bella Khabeishvili, Head of the Faculty of Roman Philology at Tbilisi State University. Foreign publishers, literary agents, media representatives, and honorary members of the Georgian Society attended the meeting.

In addition, a discussion was held – “Together for Literature”.

Translator Dali Iashvili presented Mikheil Javakhishvili’s story “Lambalo and Kasha” and a collection of stories. Representatives of Georgian publishers: “Sezan Publishing,” “Meduzi,” “Agora,” “Saktsigna,” “Bakmi,” foreign publishers, translators, literary agents, and authors participated in the discussion. Participants discussed prospects for translation and publishing activities and cooperation plans.

It is essential that during the festival, a business meeting with the participation of the Georgian Writers’ House and Georgian publishers PUBLISHERS MATCHMAKING was held successfully at the Georgian stand. At the meeting, the House of Writers of Georgia, Georgian publishers: “Sezan Publishing,” “Medusa,” “Bakmi” and translators – Maia Varsimashvili and Maia Giorkhelidze discussed the catalog of Georgian literature.

Also, Levan Taktakishvili and Beka Lajonia, employees of the National Library of Georgia, presented unique editions from the foundations, among them – almost all the issues of the emigrant edition “Bedi Kartli,” “Vepkhiskhaosani” published by Giorgi Gvazava and the play “Mitridate” translated by Jean Rasin.

A booklet with a synopsis of up to 50 works of Georgian authors and fragments of old Georgian literature was presented on the Georgian National Stand.

It should be noted that at the festival, along with Georgian publishers, representatives of French publishers LE CHERCHE MIDI, GINGKO, EDITIONS DES CARNETS DU DESSERT DE LUNE, MEDUZA, and Italian publisher MODERN TIMES, presented classical and modern Georgian prose and poetic works translated into French.

Guests of the Writers’ House stand learned samples of Georgian writing for two days and participated in exciting calligraphy activities. Calligrapher Giorgi Sisauri wrote the desired words, sayings, and phrases in the Georgian alphabet.

It is worth noting that the Paris Book Festival is one of the most important cultural events in Europe. It is held every spring and attracts 1,200 publishers and 2,000 authors. For the first time this year, Georgia was allowed to participate in festival activities with a national stand.

Participation in the festival is essential for Georgia. This will help the writer’s house, Georgian writers, or publishers manage literary relations, promote Georgian literature, find new contacts, and encourage translation activities.