“May These Ashes be Light” – on December 7, at 18:00, the presentation of the new English-language edition of the Intelekti publishing house was held at the Iliauni Book House. The book was presented by the translators Maya Tserediani and Ryan Sherman.
“Georgian writers are masters of prose and poetry, and it is a pity that they are almost unknown to the world. They definitely deserve recognition, so we hope that this book is a small step in this direction,” said Maya Tserediani.
After the occupation of Georgia in 1921, the Soviet regime turned its attention to a vibrant literary society based on ancient history. By 1938, the brightest faces of this generation had already been erased from history – their fate was imperceptible to the world. In this collection, for the first time, these voices of literary masters have been collected and translated into English. May These Ashes be Light is an anthology of poetry and prose that aims to bring to light the legacy of terror and coercion. The works included in the book once again remind us of subjugation to the primary imperative of tyranny – intellectual freedom and artistic expression.
The book includes texts of Mikheil Javakhishvili, Zaira Arsenishvili, Revaz Inanishvili, Kolau Nadiradze, Terenti Graneli, Davit Tserediani, Giorgi Leonidze, Paolo Iashvili, Murman Lebanidze, Kote Makashvili, Simon Chikovani, Galaktion Tabidze, Rebecca Ruth Gould, Boris Pasternak, Akaki Bakradze, Ambrosi Khelaia, Otar Chiladze and Maro Makashvili, which were translated into English and comments were added by Ryan Sherman and Maya Tserediani.
“The book was presented by translators who spoke about the importance of this book. The speakers of the event were the supporters of this project, editors and writers who evaluated this book. They noted the fact that it is very important for foreign readers to meet a book with such an important content in Georgia. Our goal is also to interest foreign authors so that more books will be written about Georgia,” said Zviad Kvaratskhelia, editor-in-chief of Intelekti publishing house.
By Mariam Mtivlishvili
