Poppy Askham

Associated Press • 8th July 2026

The Georgian farmers returning to ancient grains

Georgia is one of the world's oldest wheat-growing countries, yet many of its ancient grain varieties nearly disappeared under Soviet agricultural policies. As climate change and conflict sharpen concerns over food security, Georgian farmers are working to revive these heritage crops.

Index on Censorship • 3rd April 2026

Hot off the prison press : the mothers of jailed Georgian protesters taking on their sons' fight

"The spirit of a furious mother has not stopped within me, nor will it," says Nani Tsulaia, almost a year after the arrest of her foster son, Giorgi Mindadze.

Associated Press • 23rd February 2026

Bringing Berikaoba back: the revival of an ancient Georgian fertility festival

Once celebrated across Georgia as a colourful spring ritual to banish winter and bless the land and people with fertility, Berikaoba has faded from national memory.

More to Her Story • 23rd February 2026

“We Were Their Last Hope”: Georgia’s NGO Crackdown Leaves Women Without Protection

“People trusted us, they went to us. In many cases, we were their last hope,” said Khatia Rekhviashvili, a project coordinator at one of Georgia’s oldest non-governmental organizations supporting women.For more than 25 years, Rights Georgia has provided free legal support to people who have experienced human rights abuses, from victims of gender-based violence to families displaced by war. But amid an escalating government crackdown on civil society, that work is now under threat.Since May 2024,...

New Eastern Europe • 22nd February 2026

Hollowed out: the slow collapse of Georgia’s city of black gold

The Georgian city of Chiatura was once one of the world’s most important centres of manganese production. Today, many miners are unemployed and struggling to survive, after ...

OC Media • 6th November 2025

Dancing across cultural boundaries: Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani traditions meet at Shin

In a field in rural Marneuli, boys in Georgian papakha hats spring through the air while girls glide in the circles of Armenian folk tradition and raise their arms in the graceful movements of Azerbaijani dance. The performance is an embodiment of the Shin festival’s purpose: celebrating the region’s ethnic diversity and showing how culture can bring communitie...

Associated Press • 22nd November 2025

AP Horizons - The struggle to preserve Georgia’s medieval mountain towers

Medieval stone towers dot the alpine valleys of Upper Svaneti in north-western Georgia, silhouetted against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. The defensive towers, or ‘koshki’, are a defining part of the landscape of Svaneti, the highest inhabited area of the Caucasus.
Originally built to protect Svans from invaders, they have survived for centuries due to the isolated nature of the region.

The New World • 24th October 2025

The Georgian mothers fighting for their jailed sons

Cloaked in Georgian flags, and with their sons’ faces printed across their t-shirts, a small group of women stride through a market in the southwestern Georgian city of Akhaltsikhe.

OC Media • 9th October 2025

Inside Georgia’s resilient animation scene

On a hot day in early September, a crowd of spectators take their seats inside a monastery complex in the central Georgian village of Zemo Nikozi. A few hundred metres north lies South Ossetia, and during the 2008 August War the complex saw heavy bombing. But today the mood is bright — it is the second day of the Nikozi International Animation Film Festival, and for the rest of the week, the site’s stone episcopal palace will host screenings of animated films from around the world. This particul...

Associated Press • 8th September 2025

Preserving Georgia's crumbling soviet mosaics

Georgia’s mosaics, once designed to project Soviet values, now lie neglected, a divisive reminder of the past. Volunteers are racing to safeguard and record the tiled artworks before they vanish.

Associated Press • 31st August 2025

Georgian women are reshaping the wine industry

In Georgia, often referred to as the 'birthplace of wine', women are making their mark on an 8,000-year-old tradition. The Georgian wine industry has long been male-dominated, but a growing number of women are now running vineyards, producing wine, and reshaping the culture.

Associated Press • 6th July 2025

Reviving Georgia’s tea industry after its post-Soviet collapse

Georgia once ranked among the world’s top five biggest tea producers, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, the industry withered. Now a new generation of tea producers is using organic practices to revive the industry, drawing in tea-lovers and tourists from across the world.