Zviad Ratiani

Zviad Ratiani (; ; born 5 January 1971, in Tbilisi) is a Georgian poet He has been contributing to the Georgian literary printed media since 1992. , he has published five poetry collections and simultaneously has intensively worked on translations of English and German poetry.

Among numerous translations Zviad Ratiani has introduced to Georgian readers are poetic works by T.S. Eliot, E. Pound, R. Frost, M. Rilke, and Paul Celan; for the last one, Ratiani received the Goethe Institute Prize for the best translation of the year.

Ratiani's poems have been translated into English, German, French, Russian, Azerbaijani, Ukrainian, Latvian, and other languages. His poetry has been published in several anthologies among them: Ich aber will dem Kaukasos zu... - Pop Verlag 2015, Germany; Aus der Ferne (Neue Georgische Lyrik), Corvinus Presse 2016, Germany.

Ratiani has been the recipient of numerous literary awards.

Police harassment and arrests On 29 November 2024, during the 2024 Georgian post-election protests, Ratiani was dragged through the street, taken into a police car and repeatedly beaten during both the dragging and in the car. After his release, he was attacked close to his home by unidentified individuals.

On June 23, 2025, Ratiani was again arrested during a pro-democracy protest.

Works Books Only You are Allowed, Diogene Publishing, 2015 The Negative, Diogene Publishing, 2009 The Roads and the Days, Arete Publishing, 2005 The Pocket Air, Bakur Sulakauri Publishing, 2000 The Whisper Tutorial, Lomisi Publishing House, 1994 Invent Me, Lomisi Publishing House, 1993

Translations T.S. Eliot - The Waste Land, Tbilisi, Intlekti Publishing House, 2013,

Prizes and awards Literary prize LITERA in the category The Best Poetry Collection for Only You are Allowed, 2016 Literary Award SABA in category the best poetry collection for The Negative, 2010 VAZHA PSHAVELA festival prize for the book Roads and Days, 2005 ARILI magazine prize for book-length poem Moving Target, 2000 Literary prize BESTSELLER for the poem Fathers, 1999 Georgian Writer’s Union prize in 1996 and 1998 in the category The Best Poetry Publication of the Year