British scholar Donald Rayfield declines Georgian award in protest

British scholar and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian, Donald Rayfield, has refused to accept the Award of Gratitude from Georgia’s Writers’ House, citing concerns over the country’s political direction under the ruling Georgian Dream government.

The award was due to be presented at an event organized by Georgia’s Ministry of Culture on Tudesday, held in London alongside the 2025 London Book Fair. However, Rayfield, a distinguished professor at Queen Mary University of London, publicly declined the honour in a speech lasting nearly 20 minutes.

“I am deeply saddened by what is happening in Georgia, and I will not accept any gift that is in any way associated with the ruling party that has put Georgia in the state it is in now,” Rayfield said.

The 83-year-old historian, known for his extensive work on Georgian and Russian literature, added that “the only hope is that the next generation can change things,” though he admitted uncertainty about how this could be achieved.

Rayfield has dedicated decades to the study of Georgia, translating key literary works such as Mikheil Javakhishvili’s Kvachi Kvachantiradze and Otar Chiladze’s A Man Walked the Road into English, helping to bring Georgian literature to a wider audience.

His decision to reject the award comes amid growing political tensions and protests in Georgia, sparked by the Georgian Dream government’s move last year to halt EU integration until 2028