17.12.2012. (HTN - Hvino Tour News) The oldest British magazine The Spectator (established in 1828) awarded its 2012's Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize prize to article about Tbilisi. The Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize is relaunched this year and awarded annually "to the entrant best able to describe a visit to a ‘foreign’ place or people".
The 2012's winning essay is "Tbilisi: The Edge of the Real" by Tara Isabella Burton. The beginning of the article follows below:
The 2012's winning essay is "Tbilisi: The Edge of the Real" by Tara Isabella Burton. The beginning of the article follows below:
The electricity will be on in one hour, says my landlady. She tells me that it is dark out all over town (ignoring the glittering chrome bridge over the Mtkvari River, ignoring the casino that casts neon shadows on the banks at night). She calls me ‘daughter’ and evades specifics. Won’t I come upstairs for dinner at eight, or perhaps nine? (She is so busy; she works so hard; she’ll ring when dinner is ready.) The call never comes.