Looking back from today's perspective, I've had a blessed childhood. Growing up in Tbilisi, Georgia, my maternal grandmother told us, my brother and I, parables, proverbs, and folk stories full of wisdom. We learned from the life lessons tested over many centuries. That not only helped us indirectly to draw the parallels to any given situations, improve ourselves, and learn values and qualities meaningful to mankind's wellbeing, but also, it helped to grow our worldly perspectives and understanding of all that was around us. It taught us to think in metaphors, speak with similes, and express through poetry. With these blessed memories of engaging with some of the most popular works in Georgian literature, I would like to share my favorites in hopes that you too may absorb this fruitful knowledge.
About the Author: About the Author Maka Kartheiser (Kverenchkhiladze) was born in 1970 in Tbilisi, the capital city of the country Georgia. She experienced early life in this Soviet Union country and graduated from Tbilisi State University with a BA and MA in Arts of Georgian Language and Literature. In search of improving her life, she started to travel back and forth between the United States and Georgia. In 2004 she brought her three boys to Chicago and continued working as a nanny and caring for elders to support her children. She built new connections but kept working to preserve the culture, language, and the idea of being "Georgian." Maka sought a state of being where she would fully be able to use her abilities and education. After being a single mom for eight years, she remarried. Combining two cultures and traditions of different families and children has been an experience never to be forgotten. Living in a small town of Johnsburg, Illinois, raising four young men, and working as a substitute teacher, she shares her knowledge and experiences with the youth of that community. Maka Kartheiser, cofounder of the Georgian Cultural Center in Chicagoland, was awarded "Successful Emigrant Woman" for her tireless care of Georgian culture, language, and values among emigrants and their families, on March 13, 2017. A Soul Divided is her fourth book. Maka published her first memoir, The Journey to America, in 2012 in Tbilisi, Georgia, with Universali Publisher; the poem anthology Soul in Space, in 2014 in Tbilisi, Georgia, with David Agmashenebeli, Publisher; and Laptopiada, a collection of her essays, diaries, and short stories, in 2016 in Tbilisi, Georgia, with Saunje Publishing. All three books are written in the author's native Georgian language. The Scent of Homeland, a collection of poems from Georgian emigrants from all over the world, includes three poems by Maka Kartheiser. She also originated the idea of creating such a book to showcase emigrants' literary excellence. This is published in the Georgian language by Saunje Publishing.