Tbilisi Book Days 2017
Between November 9-12, ‘Expo Georgia’ exhibition center hosted Tbilisi Book Days 2017. The event is being supported by the Georgian Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection.
Over the course of four days, the exhibition center hosted leading local and regional publishing houses, as well as research laboratories, bookshops and distributors.
“Book Days are held every year. This year, over 54 publishing houses are taking part. The amount of translated literature from Georgian into foreign languages and vice versa has grown. This year is distinguished by a lot of events for kids and adults. The Georgian National Museum gave presentations in the kids’ corner, and the Academy of Thinking ‘Leterato’ discussed ‘Catcher in the Rye’ by Jerome Salinger.
There was also a discussion on Richard Bach’s ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’, and what benefits logical thinking brings in general. The main news, as always, was the new books themselves, as well as the new authors, who made presentations,” Tina Laghidze, PR and Media Communications Manager of Expo Georgia commented.
Among the events that took place within the framework of the Book Days, Book Art Festival formed a pivotal role. “These two events are interlinked, as they were founded together. We try to show various aspects and forms of what a book can be. We have an exhibition of photo-books, which represent a separate genre. There are a lot of Georgian photographers included in it. Photo-books are really new for Georgia. Georgians became involved in this two years ago. As far as I know, this is the first big exhibition of this kind,” Otar Karalashvili, Curator of Book Art festival, said to GEORGIA TODAY.
Data Patatishvili, 21, is one of the youngest among the photographers who made a photo-book. “This is my first photo-book. At first, I did not think that I would present it in the form of a book. However, because of my wish to have tighter communication with viewers via a united concept, I decided to turn them into a book. It is called ‘A Rare Hike on the Circle’. I have tried to transmit what the human perceptions are around people, surrounding environment and objects, as well as what it is like to be moving together with all these.”
Among the exhibitions, there was a Polish graphic design exposition, which is world-renowned, as well as Street photography by self-taught photographer Gigo Karalashvili. Amazingly, the most famous Swiss Publishing house translated 21 Georgian fairy tales into the German language, entitled ‘The King Never Smiles’, the presentation of which will take place at Frankfurt Book Fair 2018, and at which Georgia has the status of honorary guest.
By the end of 2018, it is planned to publish the English translation of the same Georgian fairy tales in New York, too. The upcoming Frankfurt Book fair has boosted the translation process a lot. According to the Georgian National Book Center, the number of Georgian books that were translated in 2017 was the same amount of the last ten years combined.
By Maka Lomadze