These three novels – from Georgia, Poland and Romania - reflect a range of languages, cultures and styles and tell us stories about lived experiences in the past and present. Read what Toby Lichtig and his fellow judges Ana Aslanyan, Julian Evans and Kirsty Lang have written about these three shortlisted novels for the EBRD Literature Prize 2021.
The Pear Field
Toby Lichtig (Chair of Judges): In an isolated “residential school for the intellectually disabled” on the outskirts of Tbilisi, a group of children – from the very young to the almost adult – traverse a world of abandonment, neglect and abuse. Looking out for one another, while remaining acutely alert to the necessity of individual self-preservation, they run riot, fantasize, scrap and play, while attempting to negotiate the callous adult world. Narrated in a clear, fluid prose – brilliantly captured by Elizabeth Heighway – Nana Ekvtimishvili’s novel is vicious, funny, totally enchanting and te