Summer Literary Seminars, one of the world’s preeminent international literary programs, is excited to announce our first program in beautiful Georgia, July 9th-22nd, 2017. The rich literary tradition and culture of Georgia, the work of its writers and, in particular, poets, Rustaveli to Tabidze, Tsereteli to Iatashvili, Vazha-Pshavela and Baratashvili to Chavchavadze, has inspired many great international poets, including Osip Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak, and Marina Tsvetaeva, Nikolai Zabolotsky and Anna Akhmatova.

Tbilisi, the country’s capital and one of Europe’s best-kept secrets, is a cobblestoned city situated at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Georgia boasts unspoiled natural beauty, the beaches of the Black Sea to the heights of the Caucasus Mountains. It is the ancient land of myths and legends, Jason and the Golden Fleece, some of the world’s earliest cultivated vineyards and winemaking, great art and literature, remarkable hospitality and optimism.

About the program:

Continuing in the SLS tradition, our program in Georgia will foster cultural exchange and friendships between the North-American and international writers. Participants will work closely with Georgian writers and artists. To this end, our base in Tbilisi will be the Writer’s House of Georgia, a beautiful Art Nouveau mansion of exceptionally rich literary history.

Three times a week, in the mornings and afternoons, participants will attend intensive workshops with our faculty. The workshop leader will guide the in-depth discussions on the literary work at hand, offer writing exercises and free-writing prompts..

The program will include:

• lectures and talks by local cultural figures
• literary walks in the city (such, for instance, as exploring the Tbilisi of Pirosmani);
• Trips to Sighnaghi, town of artists and writers, and Batumi, a remarkably lively Black Sea resort city
• Opportunities to attend cultural and social events in the city (for instance, world-renowned Georgian choral singing)
• Film screenings
• Time for informal discussion with faculty and local writers.
• Evening readings by faculty, students and local writers
• And more to come!

Workshop leaders: Josip Novakovich (fiction/nonfiction); Ariana Reines (poetry); Xuan Juliana Wang (editor-in-residence, Fence magazine). More faculty to be announced.

www.sumlitsem.org