At three in the morning of August 21, 2007 the government evicted the Union of Writers from their office on 13 Machabeli Street after a five-day standoff. Policeman entered the building where seven Union members were holed up, and told them to vacate the premises. They did. The building was emptied, and no one was allowed back in.

On October 2, 2007, in Support of the Writers Union of Georgia the Three Seas Writers and Translators Council of Rhodes wrote a letter to Mr. Ján Figel, Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth of the Européen Commission : Help the Georgian Writers Union stay in their house in Tbilisi. “The whole board of TSWTC, representing some 17 European writers unions on the Greek island of Rhodes and operating under the auspices of UNESCO, hereby appeal to you as Cultural commissioner of EU to exercise your influence on the Government of Georgia to prevent this loss of their property,” stated the board in the support letter, hoping that this would be a great challenge for all writers, poets and literary translator to come to Georgia for an International Literary Festivals to celebrate Georgia as a true home for art, culture and literature.

The follow up support of the EU Commissioner for the Education, Training, Culture and Youth, The European Commission of Artists (ECA) and other international arts organizations as well as public demand in Georgia at last encouraged the Georgian Government to sit at the discussion table with the leaders of the Writers Union of Georgia and make a right decision.

On March 23, 2009 the Writers Union and Minister of Culture of Georgia finally agreed about the future of the building situated at 13 Machabeli Street (address of the Writers Union of Georgia). As the Minister stated, the building will become the property of the Writers Union but partially, and any writer or writers’ organization will be able to use the remaining part for their literary activities. “From now, the whole building will be called the House of Writers. The conceptual obstacles are already overcome. Those who create modern literature will become the owners of the comfortable and high standard House of Writers,” Minister of Culture, Nika Rurua said.

Manana Dumbadze