In celebration of World Book Day on April 23, the author of a Georgian-themed English book series, A.J. Liddle, appeared for a book reading and meet-and-greet at Prospero’s newly reopened location in Saburtalo.
Prospero’s Books is an English/Georgian bookstore and café in Tbilisi that first opened its doors in 1999. The business has opened many locations over the years, the most recent one in Saburtalo, in the same building as the Georgian National Archive Exhibition Center.
Alistair Liddle, a Scottish native known by his pen name A.J., was invited to read an excerpt from and display his three-book series about crime and investigations.
Liddle lived in Georgia for 15 years after he moved to the country in 2003 for his job with BP Oil. He was the manager of a VP-operated site, and eventually moved up the ladderto operations manager for pipelines throughout the whole country and the Supsa oil terminal. During his time in Georgia, he learned a lot about the culture, and thought it would make a great component for a crime series. He said this is especially true since the “crime” genre is popular in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
“Nobody writes about Georgia, as I’m aware. Maybe Georgian writers, but the idea was a bit different. That’s what really inspired me to write about Georgian characters,” said Liddle. “Plus, it’s a very interesting country, and a lot is going on here. Especially where Georgia is now. It’s no longer the Soviet Republic; it wants to join the EU and NATO at some point, so all of it is an interesting thing.”
Currently, there are three books in Liddle’s series: “No Harm Done”, “No Way Back”, and “No Rules Apply”. He said he begins each book with a common theme and then works on characters and plots around that. The first book focuses on oil and gas, the second on human trafficking, and the third one is more financially based, focusing on the idea of money laundering. All of them feature the same detective, Lieutenant Ramaz Donadze.
Liddle said there is also a fourth book on the way, that he hopes will be ready to publish by the end of this year. He explained that this book is different from the others, starting with a murder, as most crime books do, and digging deeper into the meanings of the first three books in the series. Liddle said during his presentation that all the people in the books are fictional, but the themes are real.
The meet and greet was a small, informal gathering, and most of the guests already knew Liddle. Many people came to show their gratitude toward his work and congratulate him on what he’s done. One of his old colleagues, Anzor Doborjginidze, said he read some of the books, and as a Georgian native, the English was easy to navigate, and the descriptions of the Georgian culture were very accurate to how it is in real life.
“I met Alistair in 2003, and we worked together for many years. He was a good manager, and excellent in writing emails,” said Doborjginidze. “But I never knew he could write books. When I started reading them, I couldn’t be interrupted by anything but sleep.”
Liddle moved back to Scotland in 2019 when he retired from the oil and gas industry, which is when he picked up writing. He said he believes a lot of people have a book inside of them, and luckily, he had three, even four. He’s been writing nearly one book a year since he returned home.
“I was looking for a new mission in life, because I’m just one of these people who need to do something,” Liddle told GEORGIA TODAY. “I stopped working full time, and because I always enjoyed writing, I thought I’d try writing a book.”
During his time in Tbilisi, Liddle often visited Prospero’s, and the café later picked up his book series. Before COVID-19, Prospero’s had four different locations around the capital, including this one in the Archives. However, co-founder of the bookstore, Steve Johnson, said that after the pandemic, they lost nearly every branch. Now, they have resumed operations on the second floor of the same Archives, offering a small, retail selection of books and a café equipped with coffee, tea and light snacks, for visitors who are browsing the shelves.
“The hope is that since we’re close to universities, people will come in, grab a cup of coffee, and do some work. It’s a very nice location,” said Johnson.
Prospero’s also has storefronts on Rustaveli Avenue and in Saburtalo off Pekini Avenue. Johnson said there may be more locations to come.
By Shelbi R. Ankiewicz
