Read&Connect:Georgia Joins the Global Conversation

Hey ya'll!

Autumn’s come and here we are back with our thin coats in Radarami and we bring exciting stories from the past few months. As you remember Radarami was set up with the mission to engage curious Georgians from all backgrounds in the modern discourses happening globally, this mission is realized by providing high-quality translations of non-fiction bestsellers, on topics of critical relevance, such as global warming, democracy, education, health and psychology.  These books are otherwise simply not available to the Georgian audience. It is with your help that we are giving them more than just  local newspapers to read.

We are proud to have sixteen publications to date, in our “Read and Connect” series, and for these past three month we’ve been working hard to heat up the printing presses with Nos. 17 and 18. The oldest news you’ll expect to have heard regards upcoming publication of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead”, for  which Sheryl Sandberg kindly offered us the Georgian rights as charity.  Some legal issues have kept that tied up in post-production, but a resolution’s expected within days. That means that Lean In is in line to become the 18th title with publication set for December 2016.

Before that, however, comes our October publication: “Oil And Honey: the education of unlikely activist”. Bill McKibbon’s call-to-action memoir, an account of his fight against the Keystone XXL Pipeline, is more relevant now than ever before. Many Georgians may not already be aware of the mounting  pipeline battles occurring across America now, but McKibbon’s book stands as a portal inviting its readers in further. Perhaps a reader in Svaneti, highest region of Georgia, will discover the Standing Rock protests while they’re still ongoing; perhaps he won’t need to, closing the book and recognizing in the Keystone XXL an echo of the careless hydroelectric projects threatening Svaneti today. And perhaps he’ll decide to join McKibbon’s army of millions, 350.org – only to discover what the measurement “350” stands for, 350 ppm, 350 parts per million, the accepted safe level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Only last week, scientists announced that, without change, the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere will never again pass below 400 ppm. There couldn’t be a more essential time to bring this book into new hands.

As always, we’ll be introducing the book with a release tour in the end of October. Current plans will bring us to the main cities of Georgia: Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Gori, Telavi and Batumi and high mountainous settlements such as Mestia and Stephantsminda . What’s more, we’ll be following up the publication of our 17th book with a re-release of our very first! Fast Forward, a book about the ethics and politics in the age of global warming by William Antholis and Strobe Talbott, which is getting a second print run and will be distributed along with our new publication.

Meanwhile, we continue to expand our reach. During this Summer Radarami started to set up small “Free Library” is 5 different cities, where our readers can leave and take Radarami books. Moreover, at the end of September Radarami was invited to participate in the “Green Fest” organized by the Georgian Young Greens, in the post industrial city of Rustavi, not far from Tbilisi. The youth attending snapped up the books on sale there for the usual 2 Lari (less than 1 Euro).

There’s a rash of exciting projects in our near future, of a different sort from what you might have come to expect in the past – but we don’t want to give too much away quite yet!

In the meantime, as we tinker away at the new machinery hidden behind the curtains, we’ll just extend a hearty THANK YOU AGAIN for everything you’re making possible, every new book, every new step.

Please contact us in case of any questions or comments at mariama@radarami.org.

Thank you for your continued support!

The Radarami Team