Paata Shamugia, Michal Tallo: Poet on the Front Line

One of Georgia's most acclaimed poets, Paata Shamugia actively supports the pro-democracy protests that Georgian civil society has been organizing continuously for over 600 days. He will discuss poetry, hope, and the role of artists in a country where democracy is fighting for survival with Slovak poet and writer Michal Tallo.

Paata Shamugia is a poet, essayist, and prominent voice in contemporary Georgian literature. He gained wider recognition with the provocative collection Anti-Tqaosani (Anti-Tiger Skin, 2006), in which he engaged in a polemic with the national epic The Man in the Tiger Skin - sparking a heated public debate. His poetry is characterized by irony, linguistic playfulness, satire, and a critical perspective on national tradition and contemporary politics. He has twice won the prestigious Georgian literary prize Saba, for the collections Daujdómeli (Akathist, 2011) and Shizogadoeba (Schizosociety, 2014). He is the founder and editor of the contemporary art portal demo.ge, studied philology at Tbilisi State University, and served as president of the Georgian PEN Club from 2018 to 2022.

Michal Tallo is a Slovak writer, translator, and publicist. He has published poetry collections Antimita (2016), Δ (2018), and Kniha tmy (2022); in 2024 his prose work Všechno je v pořádku, všude je láska was published, for which he received the Tatra Bank Foundation Prize for Art. For the German publisher Danube Books Verlag, he compiled the anthology Junge Lyrik aus der Slowakei. Mladá poézia zo Slovenska (2025). His works have been published in German, Ukrainian, and Czech. From 2023 to 2026 he hosted the Devín Radio program Ars litera; since 2026 he has been preparing the podcast Kult knihy with Anna Siedykh. He has translated several books by Andrew McMillan and Seán Hewitt from English.

The program lasts 60 minutes and is conducted in English.