Georgian publisher removes books from literary contest in wave of protest against culture minister
More than 10 artists have left the literary competition following the appointment of a ministry representative Ioseb Chumburidze to the jury of the contest by Tea Tsulukiani. Photo: Publishing house Intelekti/Facebook.
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Publishing house Intelekti has removed all of its books from the Litera Prize nominations, one of the two major literary awards in Georgia, following a protest wave against Georgian Culture Minister Tea Tsulukiani, who appointed a staff member of the culture ministry to the jury of the contest.
Participants of the literary competition started exiting from the Litera Prize due to a recent incident in which Tea Tsulukiani took away a microphone from an opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi reporter.
A total of 42 books were removed by the publishing house Intelekti from the Litera Prize nominations this year.
More than 10 authors have left the literary competition following the appointment of a ministry representative Ioseb Chumburidze to the jury of the contest by Tea Tsulukiani.
Four out of five jury members have also left the Litera Prize and only Chumburidze remains on the jury.
Annual literary competition Litera was founded by the culture ministry and the Writers' House of Georgia in 2015 and this year, for the first time, the ministry appointed its representative to the Litera Prize.
Georgia's newly appointed Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth Thea Tsulukiani has said the institution will look to support production of culture projects promoting "love for homeland and freedom" in young generations.
Georgia's former justice minister Thea Tsulukiani has been appointed Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth and will lead the reorganised state body after its separation from the Ministry of Education and Science.
The 2021 edition of Litera Prize, one of two major literary competitions in the country, will not go ahead following mass protest by nominees in this year's longlist as well as all but one member of the jury team, organisers have announced.
All but one judges of this year's Litera Prize in Georgia have resigned in protest, joining criticism of a jury member being appointed to the panel from the culture ministry, while nominees in the longlist of the literature prize have asked the ministry to remove its appointment.
A number of authors from the longlist of this year's Litera Prize, one of two major literary awards in Georgia, have dropped out of the contest in protest, citing appointment of a jury member from the culture ministry and the recent incident involving minister Thea Tsulukiani with a local reporter.
Mtavari Arkhi TV has asked the Prosecutor's Office to launch an investigation into an incident that involved Thea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia, taking a microphone away from the channel's reporter on Thursday, with a video of the incident going viral on local social media channels.
PEN Georgia, a collective bringing together over 70 Georgian writers, has launched a crowdfunding drive in a bid to host an alternative literary award after this year's edition of the annual Litera Prize, one of the two major prizes of the kind in the country, was cancelled following author and publisher protests in August.