First Audio Books App Coming to Georgia

Electronic Book House ‘Saba’ has started work on the first Audio Books in Georgia, which will include 400 works of Georgian and world-famous authors. The first Audio Books application is scheduled for release in September 2016. The first presentation was held in the National Library of Georgia on April 6.

‘Saba’ launched this project together with Open Society Georgia Foundation. According to the organizers, besides the many positive sides of audio books, they are first and foremost being created for visually impaired and blind people. “Unfortunately, we have a big problem in literature as a whole in our country. Very few people are interested in reading. Moreover, people with limited vision suffer the most. Thus, with our new app soon they will have a unique opportunity to explore the wealth of literature independently. It certainly is a gift for them,” said Rati Amaghlobeli, one of the organizers of the project.

‘Saba’ already has the mobile application Saba Reader on which readers can access a large library of electronic books. From September, audio books will also be added. The creators claim that the new Audio Books will not be just audio files, but high-grade books with all attributes: pause function, bookmarks, and more.

Work on the creation of the new audio books has just begun and ‘Saba’ proposes cooperation and a platform for all interested persons. “We know that there is a large base of audio books files and various organizations and individuals who have engaged in recording books on disk and other storage formats for many years. We want to invite them to contact us to work together to create new, high-quality audio books,” said Maia Dzirkvelishvili, Director of ‘Saba’.

In addition, the authors and actors who are interested in this project are also welcome to join the organization team. The first team, which includes local contemporary authors, recorded the ‘Guest Poets Anthology’ for the new Audio app. Some have compared this project with another successful one – ‘Live Book’- in which Georgian authors travel through Georgia and publicly read literary works.

“These days, there is a tendency of re-creating the old rather than inventing the new. In the past, people heard literature, especially poetry, instead of reading it. The work acquired a peculiar value with the voice of the author. Therefore, I’m very pleased that to some degree we are returning one of the original functions of literature,” said Amaghlobeli.

Eka Karsaulidze