A rookie reporter, searching for his first big story, re-opens a murder case that once saw crowds of protestors surround Tbilisi's central police station... A piece of romantic graffiti chalked outside a new apartment block sends its residents into a social media frenzy, trying to identify the two lovers implicated by it.... A war-orphaned teenager looks after his dying sister in an abandoned railway carriage on the edge of town, hoping that someday soon the state will take care of them... In the 26 years since Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union, the country and its capital, Tbilisi, have endured unimaginable hardships: one coup d'état, two wars with Russia, the cancer of organised crime, and prolonged periods of brutalising, economic depression. Now, as the city begins to flourish again – drawing hordes of tourists with its eclectic architecture and famous, welcoming spirit – it's difficult to reconcile the recent past with this glamorous and exotic present. With wit, warmth, heartbreaking realism, and a distinctly Georgian sense of neighbourliness, these ten stories do just that. 'Acts as an introduction to a literature quite neglected by the Anglophone world... the language consistently has the direct, clean and unadorned quality of great fiction.' – Luke Kennard. ‘A soaring, searing collection – important new stories that are sure to live long in the memory.’ – Eley Williams, author of Attrib. Published with the support of the Georgian National Book Center and the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia.

The first comprehensive and objective history of the literature of Georgia, revealed to be unique among those of the former Byzantine and Russian empires, both in its quality and its 1500 years' history. It is examined in the context of the extraordinarily diverse influences which affected it - from Greek and Persian to Russian and modern European literature, and the folklore of the Caucasus.

"The Guide offers both an essential reference work for students of English and comparative literature and a stimulating overview of literary translation in English."--BOOK JACKET.

When most of Eastern Europe was struggling with dictatorships of one kind or another, the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921) established a constitution, a parliamentary system with national elections, an active opposition, and a free press. Like the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918, its successors emerged after 1991 from a bankrupt empire, and faced, yet again, the task of establishing a new economic, political and social system from scratch. In both 1918 and 1991, Georgia was confronted with a hostile Russia and followed a pro-Western and pro-democratic course. The top regional experts in this book explore the domestic and external parallels between the Georgian post-colonial governments of the early twentieth and twenty-first centuries. How did the inexperienced Georgian leaders in both eras deal with the challenge of secessionism, what were their state building strategies, and what did democracy mean to them? What did their electoral systems look like, why were their economic strategies so different, and how did they negotiate with the international community neighbouring threats. These are the central challenges of transitional governments around the world today. Georgia’s experience over one hundred years suggests that both history and contemporary political analysis offer the best (and most interesting) explanation of the often ambivalent outcomes.

Otar Sepiashvili – movie critic, scenarist, journalist, essayist, an outstanding contributor to the Georgian cultural landscape, and the author of numerous magazine articles, as well as fourteen books, three of which, such as Time and the Big Screen (1969), War on the Big Screen (1975), Charlie – A Small Man?, No, A Hero! (1991) were awarded the First Prize by the Cinematographic Union in the “Critical Analysis and Theory of Cinema”. He was one of the pioneers of professional movie criticism in Georgia and was responsible for its popularization in different forms of media, such as print periodicals and television. Following graduation from the University, he started working for the newspaper Tbilisi, and the magazine Soviet Art. In 1959 he became a member of the Soviet Journalist Union, in 1960 joined the Union of Soviet Cinematographers. For 12 years he presided over the “Critical Analysis and Theory of Cinema” department of the Union of Georgian Cinematographers. He was also a member of the popular science cinematography committee of the Union of the Soviet Cinematographers, the governing committee of the Journalist Union of Tbilisi, and the editorial board of the publishing house known as Art. For thirty years he taught the art of cinema at the Tbilisi University. He was the fi rst in the Georgian press to become an accredited correspondent to the international cinematographic forums and the fi rst to write reviews about movie festivals in Moscow, Cannes, Venice, and Delhi. In 1969 he became the chief editor for the Georgian State Television. There he organized editorial teams that were focused on tasks that were responsible for daily TV programming. He led this team for 26 years, during which he created many popular TV shows, especially the famous weekly Illusion, which he authored and anchored himself, airing over 750 episodes. His scripts were used for 10 documentaries and TV movies, among them was the three part fi lm Movie and Years, and Time for Gathering Stones, both of which were fi lmed in Israel in 1989. In 1996 he moved to New York where he currently resides and works for the Georgian and Russian press. In 2002 “Megilat Ester” and in 2005 a collection of historical-journalistic essays “Memory: Symphony – Chronicles and Intermediary or the Faith of Georgian Jews” were published in New York.

Christian-Muslim Relations, a Bibliographical History 12 (CMR 12) covering the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Africa and the Americas in the period 1700-1800 is a further volume in a general history of relations between the two faiths from the 7th century to the early 20th century. It comprises a series of introductory essays and also the main body of detailed entries which treat all the works, surviving or lost, that have been recorded. These entries provide biographical details of the authors, descriptions and assessments of the works themselves, and complete accounts of manuscripts, editions, translations and studies. The result of collaboration between numerous leading scholars, CMR 12, along with the other volumes in this series, is intended as a basic tool for research in Christian-Muslim relations. Section Editors: Clinton Bennett, Luis F. Bernabe Pons, Jaco Beyers, Emanuele Colombo, Karoline Cook, Sinéad Cussen, Lejla Demiri, Martha Frederiks, David D. Grafton, Stanisław Grodź, Alan Guenther, Emma Gaze Loghin, Gordon Nickel, Claire Norton, Reza Pourjavady, Douglas Pratt, Radu Păun, Charles Ramsey, Peter Riddell, Umar Ryad, Mehdi Sajid, Cornelia Soldat, Karel Steenbrink, Ann Thomson, Carsten Walbiner

This is a reference work by an international team of scholars covering the book from ancient times to the present day. Introductory essays explore the history and technology of the book and the range of genres. It provides surveys of the book around the world which are followed by over 5,000 A-Z entries.