Author Iva Pezuashvili's book named 2022 European Union Prize for Literature nominee
Pezuashvili will represent Georgia in the shortlist that celebrates emerging fiction authors from countries of the Creative Europe programme. Photos: Intelekti Publishing, Sopo Melikidze
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A family drama dealing with generational changes and a traumatic background of conflict, coming via author Iva Pezuashvili's novel A Garbage Chute, has been included in the list of 14 nominees of this year's European Union Prize for Literature.
The work, released by Intelekti Publishing in Georgia in 2020, was revealed as part of the shortlist by the organisers that celebrates emerging fiction writers from across the 41 countries participating in the EU's Creative Europe programme.
Nominated for the prize by literary professionals on the national level, the books represent countries ranging from Greece to Ukraine and Norway to Spain. Pezuashvili's work was submitted to the contest by the Writers' House of Georgia.
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— EUPL (@EUPLPrize) February 28, 2022
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In his fiction work, the Georgian author follows a family that has fled armed conflict in the South Caucasus' Karabakh region, the area that has historically been a hotspot of hostilities between two of the region's countries over the past 30 years.
The widowed Mila has made plans for her future without Gena; their daughter Zema joins the system and decides to only serve the cause of revenge; and Lazare, the youngest member of the family who has made left-wing praxis an element of his life, ends up facing the prospect of having to let go of his principles
- Publisher summary
The 174-page novel observes challenges within the household throughout a single day, during which a widowed mother, her daughter and son find themselves facing different moments of truth. A summary from the publishing house said the protagonists were "prevented from solving issues in simple, rational ways after past demons awaken" during the timeline of the novel.
Pezuashvili was named the winner of the 2020 Tsinandali Award for Fiction Literature in Georgia for the novel.
The 2022 edition of the EU prize will reveal the winner through a panel of seven juries, in addition to naming five works for special mentions of the contest. Georgia had a winner in the competition in 2019, when Beka Adamashvili was awarded the prize for his work Everyone Dies in this Novel.