The annual literary competition ‘Litera’ organized by Writers’ House faced an unexpected challenge after the Minister of Culture Tea Tsulukiani, nominated her advisor Ioseb Chumburidze to the jury of this year’s competition.
Ioseb Chumburidze, a journalist and publicist, is known for his anti Western views and especially loyal attitudes towards the founder and former chairperson of the ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
After this move, the authors began withdrawing their works from the contest on July 29 as a protest against the Ministry’s intervention in literary activities.
The representatives of Writers’ House pointed out that this had never happened before in the history.
Toresa and Mate Saralishvili boycotted the annual competition at first because of Minister Tsulukiani’s strict policies towards the arts sector, and the opposition-minded press. The 15 authors who withdrawn their works were: Nino Samkurashvili (Rati Mujiri), Eka Kevanishvili (Toresa Mossy), Jaba Zarkua (Mate Saralishvili), Irakli Kakabadze (Davit Kashiashvili), Bela Chekurishvili (“Elene Kvirkvelia”), Zviad Kvaratskhelia (“Elene Kvirkvelia”), Nati
The members of the Writers’ House Supervisory Board also protested the decision of the Ministry.
The members of the Supervisory Committee of the Writers’ House find the change this year unacceptable, because we feel that no member of a jury should be held accountable to the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Georgia.
The statement signed by members of the Supervisory Board at the Writers’ House stated that “the Writers’ House Supervisory Board has no legal leverage to change this.”
The writers who protested the move viewed the decision as an interference in the creative process. Many writers and publishers refused to take part in the competition, and withdrawn their applications. Four members of the Writers’ House jury also refused to work. Publishers and authors removed 92 of the 110 books that were submitted to the competition.
Writers’ House announced on August 2 that “in the current situation it is impossible to hold this years literary competition Litera.” Writers’ House announced August 2 that it would re-examine this situation with the Ministry of Culture and representatives from the literary field to find the best solution next year.
Pencenter, a group of Georgian writers that unites, also commented on the recent developments concerning Litera. They said, “such arrogant interference by the Minister in literary processes is offensive.”
“We demand that Tea Tsulukiani immediately recall the member of her ‘Litera” jury appointed by her. She should stop trying to impose her censorship on a field she has no knowledge of, and stop imagining turning writers into members of her party. We, Georgian translators, literary and critical critics and publishers, are united in this issue, regardless of our political views. Pencenter released a statement that read: “We will not allow party-control over Georgian Literature!”
The Minister of Culture herself did not comment, but the Ministry stated that it considered the criticism unfounded. They also said that they were not intervening in the competition. They also stressed that GEL 50,000 was transferred to the Writer’ ‘House to manage the competition independently.
By Team GT
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