International Alert is proud to present a new volume of the South Caucasus Literary Almanac, featuring paintings, essays and poetry by renowned and new writers and artists from the South Caucasus.
The South Caucasus Literary Almanac, which is published in Russian, aims to stimulate a virtual dialogue between the people of the South Caucasus through literature and culture, harnessing the unused potential of cultural figures and intellectuals to promote tolerance and peace.
Volume one of the almanac featured a collection of prose and poetry from the five literatures of the South Caucasus (Abkhaz, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian and Ossetian). This was developed further in volume two with the addition of contemporary photography from across the region.
As well as expanding the pool of artists and artistic material to include colour paintings and sculpture, volume three includes interviews with prominent cultural figures reflecting on the phenomenon of a South Caucasian cultural identity – whether such an identity exists in this region fragmented by war but nevertheless experiencing the pressures of globalisation.
The theme of this volume is the lot of the ‘ordinary person’ suspended between war and peace, reflecting on the current situation in the region. The theme arose through discussion with writers and artists during the first South Caucasus Cultural Dialogue, which was organised by International Alert in Farnham, UK, in June 2012.
For the first time, prominent artists and writers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh, Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia gathered in one place to discuss the role of culture and art in promoting peaceful societies and social change in the South Caucasus. Inspired by art activists from other conflict contexts, the participants exchanged ideas for future cross-divide collaborations and agreed to continue publishing the almanac.
With this third volume, the current phase of cultural dialogue is coming to an end. The editors hope that the almanac has begun to make the cultural borders between the Caucasian peoples more transparent and that this interaction on shared culture identity and heritage can be resumed again with new sponsors in future. In the meantime, we would like to extend sincere thanks to the European Union for their generous support.
FIND OUT MORE
Read the previous volumes, available in Russian, here:
Find out more about the background of volume 1 here and volume 2 here.
For more information, updates, pictures and videos, visit our almanac Facebook page here.
This initiative is made possible thanks to the generous support of the European Union.
