World Book Day celebrations in Georgia moved online
The first online celebration of the international date in Georgia will run throughout the day on Thursday. Photo via GPBA.
Tweet 
Share
For the first time in its history, this year's World Book Day will be marked remotely in Georgia, with organisers preparing everything from book presentations to author talks online.
The customary annual date, led in the country by the Georgian Publishers and Booksellers Association, will involve Georgian and foreign writers, games and activities for young readers.
On Thursday, as publishers, bookstores, literary agencies, authors and readers mark the celebration, the GPBA will host its programme on Facebook to join the call for citizens to stay at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Books have been one of the major ways people around the world have chosen to survive in the reality of the mass self-isolation [...] We decided to switch to an online form and show our society an example of major opportunities arising from a crisis" - GPBA Chairperson Gvantsa Jobava
Norwegian author Marta Breen will speak about her book 'Women in Battle', a "150-year history of the fight for freedom and equality" (Off the Shelf UK literary festival). Photo via Off the Shelf UK.
The association will invite artists and literary personalities to speak in live video links, with popular and prized people like authors Gela Charkviani and Marta Breen, actor Nino Kasradze and more lined up for the talks.
Among the hosted links, Breen will talk about her comic book Women in Battle, dedicated to subject of feminism and the struggle for gender equality. In her own section, Kasradze (Comets, Line of Credit) will read children's books for young viewers as part of the Actors for Literature series.
Author Gela Charkviani will be one of writers joining the event via video link. Photo via GPBA.
Latest books will be unveiled in other online presentations, while finals of GPBA's literary quiz competition will also be hosted and children tuning in to the event will have entertaining activities to take part in.
Augmenting the day's events - scheduled to run between 11am-8pm Georgian local time - this year's edition of Gift a Book Day will also run online.
Co-founded by Giorgi Kekelidze, General Director of the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia, its 2020 issue will involve social media users tagging their friends on images of books intended as presents for them. The books will be given to tagged friends after the restrictive measures for the pandemic are eased.
Georgia has joined in on the celebrations of International Book Day, April 23, established by UNESCO.
Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay has named the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, the World Book Capital for the year of 2021, per the recommendation of the World Book Capital Advisory Committee, which met in Switzerland in June 2019. Georgia has called the decision “historic,” noting it will promote Georgian culture and literature, further raising awareness about the country and attract many tourists.
More than 40 Georgian publishing houses, local book illustrators and international print designers are coming together in Tbilisi this week for a four-day celebration honouring literature and creativity.
Dozens of globally recognised authors and poets are coming to Georgia’s capital to meet fans, present their work and discuss all things literature at the upcoming Tbilisi International Festival of Literature.
Children's author Irma Malatsidze and the School of Art in the central Georgian village of Nikozi have been selected as the country's nominees for the next edition of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in Stockholm.
Georgian state cultural agencies' efforts in keeping up cultural projects and activities during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown have drawn praise from the cultural policies platform Compendium.
Author residency programmes, literary festivals, artistic performances and publisher projects will be on the agenda in Georgia's capital Tbilisi starting next week, with the first details of celebrating the city's year-long status as the 2021 UNESCO World Book Capital are emerging.
Georgia's capital Tbilisi is about to turn into a hub for book lovers, literary organisations, publishers and bookstores over the next year as the city formally accepted the status of the 2021 UNESCO World Book Capital on Friday.
The new school year will be the theme of the third book fair that will be held on September 18-19 in Dedaena Park, in Tbilisi within the city's year-long status as 'Tbilisi - World Book Capital'. In addition to discounted new or used books, guests at the book fair will find school or university textbooks and stationery. Also, handmade items, souvenirs, board games and more will be available at the flea market.