Daur Zantaria () (25 May 1953 – 7 August 2001) was a writer and journalist from

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

, publishing both in Abkhaz and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

languages.

Early life and education

Zantaria was born on 25 May 1953 in the village of Tamysh,

Ochamchira District Ochamchira District is a district of the partially recognized Abkhazia. Its capital is Ochamchire, the town by the same name. The district is smaller than the Ochamchire Municipality, Ochamchire district in the de jure Administrative divisions of ...

. He graduated with a gold medal from Tamysh high school in 1971 and with honours from the philological faculty of the Sukhum State Pedagogical Institute in 1975.

Literary career

Zantaria published his first short story ''Kuasta'' in the magazine '' Alashara'' in 1976. In the following years, his short stories and poems appeared in ''Alashara'', the children's magazine '' Amtsabz'', the newspaper '' Apsny Kapsh'' and the almanac ''

Literary Abkhazia Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

''. In 1984, Zantaria entered the

Union of Soviet Writers The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers () was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1934 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (1932) a ...

. That same year, he participated in a workshop for script writers in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

by Valentin Yezhov and wrote the script for the film ''Souvenir'', released in 1985. On 19 January 1991, Zantaria presided over the founding congress of Abkhazia's first post-Soviet political party Democratic Party of Abkhazia. He had conceived of the idea of founding the party along with historian

Guram Gumba Guram Gumba (born 22 July 1956) is a historian and politician from Abkhazia. At its founding congress On 19 January 1991, he became the first (and last) Chairman of the Democratic Party of Abkhazia, Abkhazia's first post-Soviet political party. Gum ...

and Russian poet Aleksandr Bardodym during a visit by the latter in 1990. The party was not revived following the 1992–1993 war with Georgia. In the 1990s, Zantaria became a member of the Union of Abkhazian Writers and published stories, essays and articles for ''

Novy Mir ''Novy Mir'' (, ) is a Russian-language monthly literary magazine. History ''Novy Mir'' has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet literary magazine ''Mir Bozhy'' ("God's World"), w ...

'', '' Druzhba Narodov'', ''

Znamya ''Znamya'' ( rus, Знамя, p=ˈznamʲə, a=Ru-знамя.ogg, lit. "The Banner") is a Russian monthly literary magazine, which was established in Moscow in 1931. In 1931–1932, the magazine was published under the name of ''Lokaf'' ("Лок ...

'', ''

Expert An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field or area of study. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized ...

'', '' Obshchey Gazeta'', as well as a number of novels and collections of short stories and poems.

Death

Zantaria died on 7 August 2001. He lies buried in Tamysh.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zantaria, Daur 1953 births 2001 deaths 20th-century poets 21st-century poets Abkhazian poets Male poets Male screenwriters Male short story writers People from Ochamchira District Russian-language writers 20th-century short story writers 21st-century short story writers 20th-century male writers 21st-century male writers 20th-century screenwriters