Vampires in Town: Ex-Pat Launches Second Book Translated into Georgian
On the eve of Halloween, Vake Park Mediathek hosted British writer Katie Ruth Davies as she launched the second in her young adult book series to be translated into Georgian. The book presentation was attended by fans, notable public figures and journalists.
Katie has been working on the five book vampire saga for ten years and has already uploaded the first four of the series onto amazon.com. The Blood Omen Saga (in Georgian ‘vampiruli omebi’, or ‘Vampire Wars’) follows seventeen-year-old Dea on a journey of discovery, love and horror as she delves into the secret world of the vampires- meeting both friend and foe along the way.
“There’s nothing scary about these books,” the writer told Georgia Today. “It’s about an everyday teenage girl living in an everyday world (England) where vampires exist. While there are a few bloody scenes, the story contains a lot of love and teenage angst mixed in with the action scenes and mystery. The story leaps from cliffhanger to cliffhanger and my growing fan base loves this page-turning aspect. The record reading I heard last weekend- one 16-year-old girl finished Book Two in six non-stop hours!”
As the writer noted, many surprises await readers from the second book and she has been very secretive about the character development. “My fans are crazy about the love story in the book. They also keep asking me who will live or die or become a vampire. I can’t tell them, of course, but it always warms me to see how enthusiastic they are and how well they know and love the characters that came from my imagination!”
While having been a writer of vampire fiction for most her life, she is currently working on another young adult fiction book about angels, set in Georgia and built around a half-Georgian, half-English teenage girl dealing with a new aspect of the supernatural. “If I get it done, it would be nice to have it published ready for the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2018. As Georgia is the Guest of Honor, there will be special interest on any book related to the country.”
The first of Katie’s vampire books was translated into Georgian and released on Halloween 2014. It sold out within 9 months and the second was translated with funding from the Translation Program of the Georgian National Book Center (GNBC), under the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection. “I’m very grateful to both Sulakauri and the GNBC for believing in me and to The Vampire Translator(!) Ana Chichinadze who brought the vampires so well to life for my Georgian fans.”
While only a small number of fans was able to attend the book launch last Friday, over 2200 are currently following her on facebook.
Katie Davies was born in the UK and has lived in Spain, New Zealand and now Georgia. She is a dedicated wife and a mother of three and when she’s not writing, she works as an English Language Specialist and as Copy-Editor for several cultural and business journals in Tbilisi.
During the presentation, which was attended by famous Georgian writer Dato Turashvili (who told Georgia Today: “Katie’s book changed my daughter’s life!”), the guests found Halloween decorations, cake, and had the chance to take part in a competition to win prizes. “I like to make it fun for my guests,” Katie said. “I like to get their imaginations going. I’ve done a couple of school presentations and hope to do more in future- I have problems getting through to the Georgian school directors that I do not spend an hour talking about vampires (which probably takes up no more than ten minutes!) but instead try to inspire the students to read, write and question. For me there’s nothing better than picking up a book you can disappear into- be it Rustaveli or J.K.Rowling. Unfortunately, it’s proving difficult to persuade those conservative directors. But I’ll keep trying. Georgia is moving to a Western mentality in baby steps and I’ll be here when it gets there, along with my vampires.”
Meri Taliashvili