Vakhushti Kotetishvili

Vakhushti Kotetishvili (1935 – 2008) was an outstanding poet, translator and critic. Educated as an Iranian scholar, most of his academic work is devoted to Persian poetry, though his interests were much wider. His best-known translations are poetic works of Omar Khayyam, Jami, Hafez and others. He also translated German, Russian and Spanish poetry.

Most of his poems were published in a literary magazine Arili. At various times he was awarded French and Austrian literary prizes. For his contribution to the development of Georgian literature, he was awarded with the prize Saba.

The autobiographical book My Life, No Longer Than a Minute, talks about Vakhushti Kotetishvili’s life, reminding readers of various stories, as well as disclosing unknown facts and experiences related to his interesting life.

 There are several words in Georgian that denote ‘life’, tsutisopeli being one of them, literally meaning ‘life no longer than a minute’.