Translator, poet David Tserediani posthumously awarded Vazha-Pshavela State Prize
The late poet and translator is a recipient of a range of Georgian and foreign prizes for his work. Photo: Goethe Institute Georgia.
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Georgia's acclaimed translator and poet David Tserediani has been posthumously awarded the Vazha-Pshavela State Prize, with his family accepting the honour from President Salome Zurabishvili on Tuesday.
The prize for poetry, named after one of Georgian literature's foremost writers, is the latest recognition of Tserediani's work in both poetry and translation and was handed to the family at the Orbeliani Palace residence of the president in Tbilisi.
The prize "stresses the importance of Georgian culture and literature", Zurabishvili said in her address for the formal event while also making remarks about a wider significance of culture, including during a pandemic.
Tserediani was not only a distinguished poet but a "great translator" of German- and French-language poetry, the president also told the audience at the venue. In her address Zurabishvili noted the importance of recognised translators for bringing Georgian culture to audiences abroad, and vice-versa.
Beside his own poetry Tserediani worked to bring works by Brothers Grimm, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Heinrich Heine, Rainer Maria Rilke and Paul Celan to readers in Georgia during his involvement in translation work since 1981.
The Vazha-Pshavela Prize follows the Givi Margvelashvili German-Georgian Culture Award in the list of recognitions of Tserediani's work, with the latter awarded to the translator in 2017, two years before his passing away.
His other honours include the Shota Rustaveli and Ilia Chavchavadze state prizes and the Saba Award for the Lifetime Contribution to the Georgian Literature.
Georgian poet Giorgi Lobzhanidze is among nominees for this year's Il Tiburtino International Literary Prize for Unpublished Poetry in Italy, hosted by the Aletti Editore literary community and marking its fourth edition later this month.
Georgian translator Khatuna Tskhadadze has been distinguished with the Order of the Star of Italy, a state prize of the Republic, for her work in making Italian authors available to readers in her country.
Acclaimed Georgian author, translator and Germanist Naira Gelashvili has been selected as the recipient of this year’s Givi Margvelashvili German-Georgian Culture Award, honouring her literary work in bringing the two cultures closer.
Translator and poet David Tserediani will be honoured for his literary work with the Givi Margvelashvili German-Georgian Culture Award, recognising his contribution to cultural relations between the two countries in Tbilisi later today.
Georgian translator Lali Unapkoshvili, distinguished with the Litera Award for Translation last year, has now been honoured for her work in bringing French literature to readers in her country with France's state Order of Academic Palms.
Georgian poet and artist Zurab Rtveliashvili, celebrated for his performances in Sweden where he had gained asylum in 2010, died in a Tbilisi clinic on Tuesday after a month-long illness at age 54.