Daur Zantaria

Daur Zantaria was born in the village of Tamysh , now Ochamchyr district of Abkhazia . He graduated from the philological faculty of the Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute named after A.M. Gorky (1975) and the Higher Courses of Screenwriters in Moscow (1984, the workshop of V.I. Yezhov , the author of the scripts for the films " Ballad of a Soldier " and " White Desert Sun "). Member of the Union of Writers of the USSR ( 1984 ) and the Union of Writers of Abkhazia .
In 1977-1981 he worked in the Abkhaz-language children's magazine "Amtsabz" ("Flame"), in 1988-1992 - in the Fund of Culture of Abkhazia. He maintained friendly contacts with Yu. Kuznetsov , A. Bitov , F. Iskander , T. Beck , M. Moskvina and other famous writers.
Until the mid-1990s the writer created works in the Abkhaz language , occasionally in Russian . A notable occurrence in the work of Anthony and the literary life of Abkhazia in the 1980s was his historical novels and short stories “The Fate of Chu Yakub,” “Yenji-Khanum Passed by Happiness,” “Traces of the Bison,” “Singer's Day,” and others. Based on his story “Souvenir,” 3antaria wrote a script for the film of the same name (“ Georgia-Film ”, 1985; director V. Ablotiya). He is also the author of the scripts for the films “Silver Street” (“Georgia-Film”, 1983; director D. Natsvlishvili) and “Coffin to Order”.
During the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992-1993. the native village of Daura Zantaria, a family hearth was destroyed, manuscripts, a library were destroyed. In 1996, the writer moved to Moscow , where he worked as a columnist for the Rossiya newspaper, as a correspondent for Expert magazine. In these and other publications, he published moral and philosophical essays and articles on contemporary problems of the Caucasus , the situation in the North Caucasus and Abkhazia, and ethnic and military conflicts . His stories, novels and poems were published in newspapers and magazines of Abkhazia and Russia.

During these years, Zantaria wrote a historical novel in Russian with elements of magical realism about the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict “Golden Wheel”, in which, according to the author, “Abkhazians are shown through the eyes of Georgians, Georgians through the eyes of Abkhazians, and both by the eyes of a dog and even a peacock. ” The novel, considered the pinnacle of Zantaria’s work, was published in the Banner magazine in 1997 and in 1998 as a separate book . The collected works of Daur Zantaria in two volumes (in Abkhazian and Russian) were published at the Abkhaz State Publishing House in 2013 . The material for publication was the archives of the writer, his publications and publications about him, as well as his unpublished manuscripts discovered in recent years. The compiler and author of the preface is writer , doctor of philology Vladimir Zantaria .

• Embankment Stories. Sukhumi, 1981.
• Poems // Alashara. 1976. No. 2. 1983. No. 1 (in English).
• Nar ulbaait. Stories. Sukhumi, 1984, (in English).
• Swift deer. Stories and novels. Sukhumi, 1988, (in English).
• Poems // Auction. Collection of stories, poems, articles. Sukhumi, 1990..
• Yenji-Khanum, overcome by happiness. The Story / Literary Abkhazia. Sukhumi, 1991, No. 1. (Also: New World. 1994, No. 3).
• Groin. Pooch Masacual and Rooster Arsen. (Chapters from the novel "Golden Wheel") // Russia. 1996, December.
• Flint chip / Friendship of peoples. 1999, No. 7.
• Golden wheel. Novel. M., (1998).
• Colchis wanderer. Ekaterinburg: U-Factoria, 2002.
• The world behind the eye of a needle. (Poetry. Prose. Journalism. Diaries) Compiled by V. Zantaria, S. Arutyunov. Sukhum, 2007.
• Collection. Poems; stories; a story; novel; journalism; from diaries. Sukhum: Abgosizdat, 2013. Comp. Vladimir Zantaria.

Daur Zantaria was a bright creative person , communication with him left an indelible impression on everyone. Texts dedicated to him, memoirs about him were written by such famous writers as Andrei Bitov , Marina Moskvina , Pyotr Aleshkovsky , Tatyana Bek , Leonid Bakhnov , Viktor Kulle , Vladislav Otroshenko and many others.

• In memory of D. Zantaria in 2010 in Sukhum , in his former apartment, the Cultural Center of Daur Zantaria was created, whose activities are aimed at preserving and developing the Abkhaz national culture . The director of the Center was its creator, the well-known public activist Ziza Gumba.
• In 2011 and 2012, in honor of the Daur Zantaria, an international multi-genre festival was held in Abkhazia in his memory “Akua-fest” (Akua - the ancient name of Sukhum) with the participation of famous writers, artists, musicians and literary scholars of Zantariyev.
• According to the famous poem by Daur Zantaria “Night” in 2011, video director and composer Alexei Blazhko created the eponymous video clip in the genre of video poetry .

• Avidzba V. Sh. Possibilities of a historical work // Alashara. 1988. No. 2 (in the abkh. Lang.).
• Zantaria D. B. Colchis Wanderer. Ekaterinburg, 2002.
• Beck T. Fire in the hearth // Bell. 2003. No. 2; Gurgulia B.
• Creative portraits. Tutorial. Sukhum, 2004, (in English).
• Zantaria D. B. The world behind the eye of a needle. (Poetry. Prose. Journalism. Diaries (Memoirs and articles on the work of D. B. Zantaria) Compiled by Zantaria, S. Arutyunov. Sukhum, 2007.
• Collection. Poems; stories; a story; novel; journalism; from diaries. Sukhum: Abgosizdat, 2013. Comp. Vladimir Zantaria.

• Page Daura Zantaria on the website of the Crimean Geo-Ethical Club. https://web.archive.org/web/20130731075729/http://www.liter.net/=/Zantaria/
• Curriculum Vitae about Daur Zantaria (compiled by Doctor of Philology Vyacheslav Biguaa ). http://liter.net/=/Zantaria/biogr.htm (inaccessible link)
• Page of the Daur Zantaria in the "Journal Hall". http://magazines.russ.ru/authors/z/zantariya
• Presentation of the collected works of D. Zantaria at MGIMO. http://mgimo.ru/about/news/social/249302/
• Presentation of the collected works of D. Zantaria at the Silver Age Museum. http://kultinfo.ru/novosti/1674/
• Elena Zavodskaya. The expanses of Daura Zantaria. http://ekhokavkaza.com/content/article/27035968.html
• Video clip for the poem by Daur Zantaria “Night”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTbDaaaOqUg