GD-Supported Presidential Candidate Criticizes Georgia’s Program at Frankfurt Book Fair
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, October 25
An independent presidential candidate Salome Zourabichvili, who is supported by the ruling party Georgian Dream (GD) criticized Georgian program presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair, where Georgia was represented as the honorary guest.
During the meeting with the culture field representatives at the Rustaveli Theatre on October 23, Zourabichvili said that Georgia was not properly represented and the country failed to use this chance.
“I do not say that I have much knowledge in the culture field…But my intuition tells me what is being done wrong…At the Frankfurt Book Fair Georgian culture was not represented properly. We did only half of what we could have done,” she stressed.
Zourabichvili’s comments were slammed by the Georgian writers. Georgian poet, translator and orientalist Giorgi Lobzhanidze says the presidential candidate should have attended the book fair with her own French book about Georgian oligarchs where she praises GD founder and chair Bidzina Ivanishvili.
“I was going to write a long newsletter about my positive impressions from the Frankfurt Book Fair but it does not make sense now as Zourabichvili already assessed it,” Lobzhanidze’s Facebook post reads.
Another Georgian writer, Salome Benidze says in the history of its independence, Georgia has never achieved so much success at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
“Everyone is talking about Georgia. There are billboards in the streets depicting the covers of Georgian books. You should have had a walk to Frankfurt Mrs. Zourabichvili and you would see this all. It is shameful to make such statements,” Benidze wrote on Facebook.
Frankfurt Book Fair, among the world’s most important cultural events, with a tradition spanning more than 500 years, concluded with Georgia, as Guest of Honor, handing over this important title to Norway. The major international book event opened on October 10 and lasted until October 14 and brought together publishing experts, writers and cultural enthusiasts from all over the world.
As a Guest of Honor, Georgia’s special pavilion was opened at the festival, showcased in the theme of the unique Georgian alphabet that was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2016. ‘Georgia – Made by Characters’ was the motto chosen by Georgia and the concept of the stand was made based on this theme, adorned with fascinating sculptures of Georgian letters aimed at introducing the country’s culture, history and art through 33 characters of its alphabet.
Over the course of the guest country year, more than 150 Georgian books have been published in the German and 70 German-language publishing houses have titles from or about Georgia in their programs. A total of 200 books have been translated from Georgian into German since the founding of the Georgian National Book Center (2014) and the launch of the translation support program (2011).
Moreover, around 50 Georgian writers took part in the book fair and met the readers.
Georgia was presented through a diverse program, and apart from book presentations, music events, art shows and performances were held at the site.
Georgian National Book Center Director Medea Metreveli stated that Georgia was in focus for the five days of the book fair and all the events and activities carried out by Georgian authors ended with waves of applause.
