FINALISTS OF ILIAUNI LITERARY CONTEST 2015 ANNOUNCED
News
On March 19, within the event “Late at Night at Iliauni,”7 finalists of Iliauni Literary Contest were announced.
- Claude Simon “La Route des Flandres,” Publishing House Intellect, translators Ilia Gasviani, Anzor Abjandadze
- Orhan Pamuk “My Name is Red,” Bakur Sulakauri Publishing House, translator Lia Chlaidze
- Knut Hamsun “Mysteries,” Bakur Sulakauri Publishing House, translator Tamar Kvijinadze
- Virginia Wolf, “To the Lighthouse,” Bakur Sulakauri Publishing House, translator Lela Dumbadze
- Robet Musil, “The Man Without Qualities,” volume II, Diogene Publishing House, translator Maia Badridze
- William Faulkner, “Flags in the Dust,” Diogene Publishing House, translator Zaza Chiladze
- Umberto Eco The Name of the Rose, Diogene Publishing House, translator Khatuna Tskhadaze
48 foreign language novels were presented in total. Full list of the novels is available here.
The winner will get Iliauni award in the amount of 10,000 GEL.
History of Literary Contest
The Literary Contest of ISU has existed 5 years. In 2010, the academic board of the university made a decision to foster the development of novel writing practice in Georgia through introducing a literary award for the best novel.
So far the prize has been awarded to 4 nominees. In 2010, the prize was granted to Aka Morchiladze for her novel “Mamluki”, while in 2011, Zaza Burchuladze received the same prize for his “Inflatable Angel.” In 2012, the prize was not issued; however, in 2013, the pecuniary award was shared between Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili for her novel “Who Killed Chaika” and Jaba Zarkua for his novel “Readers Must Die.”
In 2014, the academic board of ISU decided to issue a prize for the best translation of a foreign language novel. The basis of this decision was the opinion that Georgian translations of brilliant foreign language literary works make worthwhile contributions to the development of novel writing with this contribution being not smaller than that of made by writing of original novels. An author of the best translation published for the last 5 years will be announced as the winner of the contest.
Two factors were paid particular attention by the jury this year:
- The quality of translation: how well and adequately the language of the original is conveyed to the reader and whether a translator manages to create a translation which is equivalent to the original;
- The quality of the original work: the importance of a novel is in the world literature context.
The finalists and winner will be announced by the jury composed of the professors and students at Iliauni.