Born in 1939, Besik Kharanauli is an outstanding figure and one of the most recognized contemporary Georgian poets.

 

He graduated from the Philology Department of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi University. His first poetic works appeared in 1954. He worked in the literary magazine Mnatobi and in 1998-2002 was the director of the publishing house Nakaduli.

 

He is the author of more than twenty poetic collections and two prose books: EPIGRAPHS FOR FORGOTTEN DREAMS and SIXTY MOUNTED KNIGHTS OR THE BOOK OF HYPERBOLES AND METAPHORS.

 

His poetry is translated and published in German, Dutch, Italian, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, Bulgarian, Turkish and French. 

 

He has been awarded a number of prestigious Georgian literary awards. In 2011 and 2015 he was nominated for the NOBEL PRIZE for literature by the Georgian government.

 

In 2015 he won literary prize SABA for the Contribution to the Development of Georgian Literature.