Grigol Abashidze

Born July 19 (Aug. 1), 1914, in Chiatura. Soviet Georgian poet. Member of the CPSU since 1944. First secretary of the board of the Union of Writers of Georgia since 1967.

Abashidze, whose first work was published in 1934, graduated from the University of Tbilisi in 1936. The hero of his poetry is the Soviet man, the toiler, the builder of communism (Forever in Armor, 1938, and The Founder, 1939). Abashidze’s mastery became firmly established during the Patriotic War with such works as The Enemies (1941), The Duel of the Tanks (1941), The Banners (1943), and The Unconquerable Caucasus (1943). In the cycles On the Southern Frontier (1949) and Lenin in Samgori (1950), Abashidze revealed the strength of Soviet patriotism. Both cycles earned him the State Prize of the USSR in 1951. He wrote the narrative poem George the Sixth (1942), which portrays the struggle of the Georgian people for national independence, and the dramatic narrative poems The Legend of the First Dwellers in Tbilisi (1959) and Journey Into Three Times (1961). The author of historical novels of life in 13th-century Georgia (first book, Lasharela, 1957; second book, The Long Night), Abashidze also writes for children. He has been awarded two orders.