Poppy Askham

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 ...

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.

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...

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.

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.