Georgia’s Saba literary award winners to be unveiled at Frankfurt Book Fair

Visitors of this year’s principal international book fair in Frankfurt will be the first to learn about winners of Georgia’s annual Saba Literary Prize.

The live event will showcase the recipients of various prizes handed out by organisers of the major local contest.

Hosted at the prominent Medieval Emperor’s Hall — the Kaisersaal — of the city, the ceremony will also be broadcast live for audience in Georgia.

Georgian National Book Centre Director Medea Metreveli with a symbolic gift marking the Guest of Honour status for Georgia at last year's Frankfurt Book Fair. Photo: Georgia Made by Characters/Facebook.

It will mark the status of Georgia as the official Guest of Honour of the Frankfurt Book Fair, with the organisers of the country’s representation at the event celebrating the selection with an augmented program.

This year’s Saba awards will honour winners in the following 10 categories:

• Novel of the Year
• Prose Collection of the Year
• Poetry Collection of the Year
• Essay and Documentary Prose of the Year
• Debut of the Year
• Georgian Translation of Foreign Work of the Year
• Foreign Translation of Georgian Work of the Year
• Foreign Review of Georgian Literature of the Year
• Foreign Publisher of Georgian Literature of the Year
• Award for Contribution to Georgian-German Literary Relations

Organisers have opened submission for the categories, with deadline of February 20. A shortlist from the received works will be unveiled in July, before the winners are awarded in Frankfurt in October.

Georgia took over as Guest of Honour of the fair at the conclusion of the event in October 2017.

The program for promoting the country’s literature for this year’s fair also includes the first ever participation of a Georgian author in a literary section of the Berlinale Film Festival later this month.

Hosted in cooperation with the Frankfurt fair, the event will see Dato Turashvili, two-time Saba-winning author, in a pitching session of his book Another Amsterdam during the festival’s co-production market.

Established in 2003, the Saba Literary Prize will mark its 16th edition this year.