Events dedicated to Mukhran Machavariani’s 90th anniversary
Prepared by Levan Abramishvili
Wednesday, April 17
As we have mentioned, Mukhran Machavariani would have turned 90 last week. Dedicated to the anniversary, several events were held in Tbilisi. On April 12, Georgian National Academy of Sciences hosted a session dedicated to the poet. Several academics and Georgian linguists participated and discussed the life and work of the poet. The Chairperson of the Education, Science and Culture Committee in the Georgian Parliament, Mariam Jashi, was also present at the event. She emphasized the importance of Machavariani to the Georgian public and highlighted the work that he had done for keeping the Georgian spirit alive during the hardship of Soviet times.
The second event dedicated to the anniversary was hosted by Writers' House of Georgia. The publishing house Artanuji presented a new book about the poet titled 90 stories. The book, compiled by the poet’s daughter, Nana Machavariani, is a collection of stories about Mukhran Machavariani told by his family members, friends, and colleagues. The structure of the book is concurrent with the poet’s life events. It starts out from the childhood stories as told by his sister, Tinatin Machavariani, then it continues with the stories of the poet’s wife, Lamara Bokeria. The book paints an intimate portrait of the renowned poet that is all-too-familiar those who knew him and shows a personal side of him to those who are only familiar with his works.
While the session dedicated to the poet’s work was academic in nature, the book launch was more intimate and personal, as the members of the poet’s family, as well as his friends, remembered the great poet.
