Georgian-born German writer Nino Haratischwili reflects on the role of language and memory in her work, tracing her journey from a childhood in Tbilisi to a literary career in Germany. In this video, she discusses how writing in a foreign language has shaped her relationship to her native Georgian, and how her early experiences in theatre led her to literature.
For Haratischwili, writing in German, a language she learned in childhood, provides a distance that allows her to approach her material more freely. “I always need space, distance, a different perspective,” she says.
The freedom of writing in another language, however, comes at a cost. Although Georgian remains an essential part of her everyday life, returning to it as a literary language has become increasingly difficult. She describes the experience as a gradual estrangement from the language in which she grew up, while acknowledging that moving between languages also opens up new ways of seeing and understanding the world.
Born and raised in Tbilisi, Haratischwili grew up during a period of profound political and economic upheaval. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the struggle for Georgian independence and the civil conflicts of the 1990s shaped her early years. Alongside the instability, she remembers a strong sense of solidarity among people who relied on one another.
Her passion for literature began with her grandmother, an avid reader who introduced her to the world of books. At a school with close ties to German language and culture, Haratischwili began writing as a teenager and founded a theatre group. Seeing her texts brought to life on stage became a formative experience, revealing the possibilities of storytelling beyond the written page.
After studying film directing in Tbilisi, Haratischwili moved to Hamburg in 2003 to study theatre directing. She had initially intended to return to Georgia after four years, but her life and work took a different course. During her studies, writing became increasingly central. When she decided to stage one of her own plays, she chose to write it in German rather than Georgian, partly to avoid translating it herself. The decision marked the beginning of a new chapter in her artistic life. “I really wanted to learn that specific craft.“
Her transition from theatre to prose was similarly driven by the demands of the material. She does not regard the novel as a predetermined ambition but as a form that emerges from the story itself. Her historical family saga The Eighth Life (For Brilka), which took four years to write, began as a more limited exploration of the Georgia of her childhood. As she researched the country’s history, the narrative expanded across generations and into the past.
The publication of the novel in 2014 established her as a major voice in German-language literature.
Haratischwili sees language as something alive, shaped by a person’s circumstances, emotions and sense of belonging. “Language is a living thing and that is very tied to your own present.“
She is drawn above all to the substance of a story rather than to a particular literary style. Whether a work becomes a play or a novel depends on the material itself. For her, form follows content. “I’m simply a storyteller, I love stories.”
Nino Haratischwili (born 1983 in Tbilisi, Georgia) is a novelist, playwright and theatre director based in Germany. She studied film and theatre in Tbilisi and theatre directing at the Hamburg Theatre Academy. Her work explores Georgian history, identity, memory and the experience of living between cultures. Her major works include The Eighth Life (For Brilka) (2014), The Cat and the General (2018) and The Lack of Light (2022). The Eighth Life became an international bestseller and received the Anna Seghers Prize and the Bertolt Brecht Prize. The Cat and the General was shortlisted for the German Book Prize in 2018. Her other distinctions include the Schiller Memorial Prize and the Carl Zuckmayer Medal.
Nino Haratischwili was interviewed by Steen Bille at the Louisiana Literature festival in August 2021, at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.
Camera: Jakob Solbakken
Edit: Signe Boe Pedersen
Produced by Christian Lund
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2026.
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond
Subscribe to our channel for more videos on literature: https://www.youtube.com/thelouisianachannel
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER:
https://channel.louisiana.dk/newsletter
FOLLOW US HERE:
Website: http://channel.louisiana.dk
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/louisianachannel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LouisianaChannel
source
UCY2mhw-XNZSxrUynsI5K8Zw
