Georgia’s penitentiary authorities have refused to deliver a dystopian novel by the Georgian author Lasha Bugadze to the imprisoned activist Nana Sander, citing ambiguity in its title. The decision has drawn criticism from PEN Georgia, which said it concerned Bugadze’s political and civic position as well as the content of the book.
The refusal comes as Bugadze’s 45-minute play Pravda, a satire inspired by Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, continues to reach theatre audiences. Directed by Zura Getsadze and presented by the Tbilisi City Theatre, the work premiered with English subtitles at the New Drama Festival with Theatre on Atoneli on 15 April 2026. A performance was scheduled for 19 September 2026.
Pravda follows two radio announcers, played by Natia Parjanadze and Nikusha Bakradze, and their manager, played by Sophio Zeragia. The programme’s callers are supposedly filtered before appearing on air. As the fictional war intensifies, its restrictions steadily reach the studio.
One of the first forbidden words is “death”, followed by “raincoat”. The pressure on speech escalates until letters themselves are banned and the announcers can only moan into their microphones. The play uses that progression to depict a system in which language is narrowed as propaganda takes hold.
Bugadze’s novel The Observer also centres on authoritarian control. It is set in a future Georgia after decades of authoritarian rule, where a despot calls a referendum twenty-four years after the country’s last elections.
In early August, a copy of the novel intended for Sander was rejected at Women’s Penitentiary Facility No. 5 in Rustavi. Sander has been imprisoned since 2025 in connection with the events of 4 October in Tbilisi. The brief provides no further details of those events.
Prison officials initially said the book was “political” and could not be given to a prisoner. In a written explanation dated 24 August, Georgia’s Special Penitentiary Service gave a different rationale. It said the title The Observer created “ambiguity” and “does not allow for an unambiguous interpretation,” particularly in relation to a penitentiary institution.
PEN Georgia condemned the decision and said the matter was linked to Bugadze’s political and civic position, rather than solely to the novel’s content. The organisation said: “Censorship of fiction as an attempt to restrict freedom of expression is unacceptable in a democratic society”
Baia Pataraia, head of the Georgian women’s rights organisation Sapari, said the decision had restricted Sander’s right to receive information.
The prison service has not indicated whether it will reconsider its decision. It is also unknown whether other political prisoners or activists have faced similar barriers to receiving Bugadze’s work.
The dispute has been accompanied by an incident at the Galdani branch of the Biblusi bookstore chain in Tbilisi, where copies of Bugadze’s books were vandalised. The full scope of vandalism directed at his work beyond that documented incident is unknown.
The two works approach similar themes through different forms. Pravda stages the gradual loss of words before an audience, while The Observer imagines a country shaped by long authoritarian rule. The prison decision has placed those themes at the centre of a live dispute over the access of an imprisoned reader to fiction.
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