Guram Odisharia is a Georgian poet and writer, who previously served as the Minister of Culture and monument Protection in Georgia from 25 October 2012 to 21 July 2014.
Early life
Guram was born in Sukhumi, Georgia. In 1975, he graduated from the University of Sukhumi in history and philology. He worked as a journalist in Various Abkhazian newspapers and radio broadcasting. He served as the editor of Ritsa magazine and director of the Abkhazia branch of "Merani"publishing. Odisharia spent the entire war-time in Sukhumi, and left Abkhazia on the day when the city fell, 27 September 1993. He fled to the Georgian Capital Tbilisi via the Caucasian Range. Since then, he has been active in the field of conflictology and participated in Georgia-Abkhazia peace talks. In 2008, he was given the status of Ambassador for peace in Seoul. In 2012, he became minister of Culture and Monument Protection in Georgia, a post he held till 2014.
Literary career
Odisharia has been writing poems since childhood. However, his paintings were published earlier than his poems. His first poem was published in 1969. He has authored nine poetry collections as well as ten prose books, and a number of plays films and television scripts. He is best known for his novels, Black SeaOcean, Return to Sukhumi and The President's Cat. His poetry and prose are greatly influenced by Sukhumi and the ambience of black sea coast. His works have been translated into Abkhaz, Turkish, English, German, Russian, Italian, Armenian and Ukrainian. His work Pass of the Refugees is being adapted into film by filmmaker Giorgi Obashvili. His play the sea which is far was adapted into a play, which was directed by Temur Chkhidze.
Political career
In 2012, Guram was elected member of the Georgian Parliament. Guram was appointed Minister of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia in 2012, and served till 2014. He was appointed an advisor to the Georgian Prime Minister in 2014.
Accolades
Odisharia won State Award of Georgia, Ilia Chavchavadze Award, Award of the Theatrical Society of Georgia, among various prizes and honours.
