Translator David Tserediani honoured for work on German literature

Translator David Tserediani will be honoured for contribution to cultural relations between Georgia and Germany. Photo: Tbilisi Festival of Literature.
Agenda.ge, 30 May 2017 - 15:31, Tbilisi,Georgia

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.

Tserediani will receive the prize at the Writers’ House of Georgia, which is hosting the Tbilisi International Festival of Literature.

The Georgian author will feature in a ceremony featuring addresses by literary critics and translators before accepting the award established by the Goethe Institute Georgia and Germany’s Institute for International Cooperation (DVV International).

Among other works, the prize will highlight Tserediani’s acclaimed work for translating Faust, the famous 1808-published tragedy by Germany’s prominent author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Tserediani has been awarded some of the most prestigious state and literary prizes in Georgia. Photo: Goethe Institute Georgia.

The translator is also known for having made the popular fairy tales by Brothers Grimm available in Georgian.

Born in Georgia in 1937, Tserediani studied philology at Ilia State University and has worked at the Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature since 1963.

Beside his work on Goethe and Brothers Grimm, Tserediani has translated works by prominent German authors Heinrich Heine, Rainer Maria Rilke and Paul Celan during his involvement in translation work since 1981.

He has also worked on translating Svan language folklore from Georgia’s mountainous north-western region Svaneti and published an anthology of own poems Orioni.

Tserediani has received a slew of prestigious state and literary awards in Georgia, including the Shota Rustaveli Award, Ilia Chavchavadze Award and Saba Award for the Lifetime Contribution to the Georgian Literature.

The award is named after Germany-based Georgian author and philosopher Givi Margvelashvili. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

In today’s ceremony, the Givi Margvelashvili prize will be awarded in Georgia for the fifth time.

The award honours the life and work of Germany-based Georgian author and philosopher Givi Margvelashvili.

Previous recipients of the prize include Lasha Bakradze, Director of Giorgi Leonidze State Museum of Georgian Literature and David Lordkipanidze, General Director of the Georgian National Museum.

Established by the Goethe Institute and DVV International in 2014, this year’s awarding of the prize also coincides with the anniversary year of German-Georgian diplomatic relations.

The anniversary is celebrated at various public events and festivals in the two countries, including the ongoing Tbilisi Festival of Literature.

Opened on Monday, the event features a focus on invited German authors and publishers, including Ingeborg Bachmann Prize-winning German author Katja Lange-Mueller and Leipzig Book Fair Prize-winning writer Clemens Meyer.

Georgian writers featured at the event include Germany-based author Nino Kharatishvili, awarded the prestigious Anna Seghers Prize for her literary work in the country in 2015.