Fragebogen Zura Abashidze

Wir danken auch Zura Abashidze, dass er sich Zeit genommen hat, unseren kleinen Fragebogen zu beantworten.

1. Which impact has Tbilisi on your own work?

Tbilisi is the city where I started writing. I was born in Batumi and if I hadn’t moved to Tbilisi years ago maybe I wouldn’t have even started writing. Almost all of my stories take place in Tbilisi, my characters are from different places of the world but they are in Tbilisi as the story begins. Tbilisi is one of my character and for now I am reluctant to start writing about other city or people from other cities.

2. What do you like about Tbilisi? What is annoying you?

I like Tbilisi because the city has an old soul, you can feel 19th century spirit in Tbilisi’s old streets (Sololaki, Mtatsminda, Avlabari) and you can feel soviet union in old khrushchovka’s flats. You can meet different people with different ethnicity (Russians, old Germans, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and so on), but the city is very dirty and the population in this small city is relatively high. Also, air pollution causes a lot of problems.

3. How is your experience with the Literature Szene in Tbilisi?

I started writing when I was 19 years old. I became a finalist of Tsero Literature competition, it was my first step in literature and after that my career was growing and every day I feel interest from literature scene. My first book was a big thing for critics of literature. My book is a best seller, and all of this facts prove me that Georgian Literature Scene is ready to welcome new authors and new titles.

4. On which project are you working right now?

I’m working on my second book right now, I want it to be a novel, I already have a plot and I´m working on it to become a novel.

5. How do you bring yourself in a mood for your writing? Which capabilities, which writing-environment and atmosphere do you need?

I don’t need any special writing-environment or an atmosphere to write. One thing I need for writing is my Laptop. I do everything before I start writing. I live, I try to feel every emotion and after I calm down, I start writing.

6. How do you develop a literature text?

First, I start thinking about the final part of my story. Gradually, I’m creating characters and their images. After that I’m writing my character’s bio, appearances and flashbacks from their life. Finally, the story is ready to be written. And I’m waiting for the right time to catch the moment and write.

7. How much time do you spend with your writing per week? Are you satisfied with that time?

There are weeks, where I do nothing, but there are weeks I stop social life and write all days and nights.

8. On which current social topics are you interested right now? And do there have impact on your writing?

I’ve started writing because I wanted to show my support to the LGBTQI community. Since then I have always been trying to write about their feelings, life, struggles and the pain in our country. Of course my social topics are always homophobia in Georgia. I try to reach every person to defeat rage and anger in their mind and heart.

9. How did you become a writer?

I became a writer when I started studying at the university in Tbilisi. I moved from my city to Tbilisi and since the first month I felt loneliness, I started writing. I began remembering stories from my childhood and childhood neighborhood. I have always loved to hear interesting encounters and as I felt loneliness, I started writing these stories.

10. How do you use the internet and social media platforms for your writing and as a place for presentation?

Every reader I have today and every support I am receiving today, I have got from internet and social media. In our days it’s very hard not to use internet to promote your books. I post every news from my career on Facebook and it helps me to become more popular.