The winners of the Litera 2026 Literary Awards have been announced. The award ceremony was held on October 2.
During the ceremony, participants expressed solidarity with poet Zpping a police officer. Ratiani received a special award last year
This year, the same award was presented to Mikheil CharkOpen Space – Center for Visual and Performing Arts. The book is dedicated to Ratiani and was nominated in the Best Documentary Prose category.
Best Debut of the Year
Winner: Tako Tsulaia for Nothing Happens to Us
Other nominees: Tinatin Khuturidze – Tell the Winds,
Other nominees:
Tinatin Khuturidze – Tell the Winds, Kalmsoni Publishing
Giorgi Sharashenidze – Iron Slag, Intelekti Publishing
Best Poetry Collection of the Year
Winner: Mindia Arabuli for Eternal Darkness
Nato Ingorokva also received a special Litera award for civic activism, initiated by UN Women, for her collection Momento Memorias
“I am grateful to poetry because, without it, the words I have kept behind my lips would probably have suffocated me. I am grateful that they saved me,” Ingorokva said.
Other nominees: Gaga Nakhutsrishvili – A Hut
Other nominees:
Gaga Nakhutsrishvili – A Hut in the Mountains, Kalmsoni Publishing
Nini Eliashvili – A Child Will Stand Wherever They Want, Kalmsoni Publishing
Beka Akhalaia – Homo-Magnet, The Magic House Publishing
Tamar Zhghenti – The Fox’s Tail, Intelekti Publishing
Giorgi Kharaishvili – Mechanical Tragedies, Intelekti Publishing
Aleko Tskitishvili – Heads, Intelekti Publishing
Best Prose Collection of the Year
Winner: Davit Kartvelishvili for Wax Figures, published by Palitra L.
Other nominees:
Lasha Imedashvili – Back to the Future, Sulakauri Publishing
Aleko Shughladze – The Woman on the Bell Tower, Intelekti Publishing
Tsotne Avsajanishvili – Mists Rise over the Valleys of Kartli, Intelekti Publishing
Best Documentary Prose of the Year
Winner: Giorgi Kakabadze for The Nature of Causes
“I am particularly proud of this award because we all know that Litera is an award born out of struggle. And that is very important. It is an answer to those who want democratic institutions to come to an end in Georgia and a dictatorship to be established,” the winner said.
Other nominees: Shota Iatashvili – Murderous Writers, Diogene
Other nominees:
Shota Iatashvili – Murderous Writers, Diogene Publishing
Beka Kurkhuli – Ukrainian Days 3, Intelekti Publishing
Giorgi Kekelidze – Abolishing Death, Palitra L.
Archil Kikodze – Peru Diary, Sulakauri Publishing
Mikheil CharkVisual and Performing Arts
Best Novel of the Year
Winner: Goga Kobalia for Death in the Scorching Sun
“Thank you very much. The greatest victory for me and everyone here will be when we remove the Russian force from this country, which has led it into darkness… I wish freedom to the prisoners of the regime. I want to thank those who fight every day,” Kobalia said.
Other nominees:
Archil Kikodze – War, Sulakauri Publishing
Iva Pezuashvili – To the Edelweisses, Intelekti Publishing
Lekso Paikidze – Guate, Bendes Publishing
Two Special Awards
Two additional special awards were presented:
Writer and teacher Datia Badalashvili was honored for his dedicated and tireless work in education and promoting literacy.
Writer and translator Irakli Lomouri received an award for courage demonstrated through his creative work and civic stance, and for reminding society of the enduring importance of fighting for the truth.
<blockquote>“Thank God that you exist, that literature and society are alive, and that no people obsessed with money can do anything to us, no matter what horrors may lie ahead,” Lomouri said.</blockquote>
The annual Litera literary competition, originally organized by the Writers’ House of Georgia, was boycotted by writers in 2021 over what they described as former Culture Minister Tea Tsulukiani’s heavy-handed policies.
Some authors withdrew from the competition in protest after it became known that one of the five jury members had been appointed by the ministry under a ministerial order.
Since 2022, the Georgian PEN Center has organized and presented the Litera awards.
