Guram Dochanashvili Biography: Net Worth, Death, Children, Movies, Height, Awards, Age, Books

Guram Dochanashvili was one of Georgia’s most beloved and influential prose writers of the 20th century, a master of satirical allegory whose playful yet profound stories challenged Soviet dogma and restored the dignity of the individual voice.

With a historian’s eye and a jazz lover’s rhythm, he blended myth, Biblical motifs, and sharp humour into timeless works that continue to define modern Georgian literature.

Profile

• Full Name: Guram Dochanashvili
• Stage Name: Guram Dochanashvili
• Born: 26, March 1939
• Date of death: 3, April 2021 (Aged: 82 years old)
• Birthplace: Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union (now Georgia)
• Nationality: Georgian
• Occupation: Prose Writer, Historian, Archaeologist, and Editor
• Height: Unknown
• Parents: Mr Dochanashvili , Mrs Dochanashvili
• Siblings: Unknown
• Spouse: Natela Sepiashvili
• Children: 3
• Relationship: Widowed
• Net Worth: $100,000 and $500,000

Early Life and Education

Guram Dochanashvili was born on March 26, 1939, in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, to Mr Dochanashvili and Mrs Dochanashvili, whose personal details remain private.

Little is known about siblings. He grew up in the wartime and post-war capital, surrounded by books and music, and graduated from Tbilisi State University in 1962 with a degree in History. From 1962 to 1975 he worked at the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, participating in numerous archaeological expeditions across Georgia.

These years of fieldwork, combined with evenings spent in Tbilisi’s underground jazz cafés and literary circles, deeply shaped his imaginative, anti-dogmatic style. His ethnicity was Georgian; he was privately Orthodox Christian.

Career

Guram Dochanashvili made his literary debut in 1961 with short stories published in the magazine Tsiskari, instantly marking himself as a rebel against Socialist Realism by using irony, parable, and linguistic play.

Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s he honed a distinctive voice that mixed folklore, Biblical echoes, and absurdist humour, earning both censorship headaches and a devoted underground readership.

His breakthrough came in 1975 with the novel The First Garment (Samreklo), an allegorical retelling of the Canudos War in Brazil framed through the Book of Genesis—an audacious act of spiritual defiance under Soviet rule.

The book became an instant sensation, circulated in samizdat before official publication, and solidified his reputation as Georgia’s boldest prose innovator.

Between 1975 and 1985 he headed the prose section of the influential literary journal Mnatobi, nurturing a new generation of writers. From 1985 he served as editor-in-chief at Gruziya-Film studio, quietly protecting artistic freedom in cinema during the late Soviet era.

Guram Dochanashvili published over twenty books of novels and short stories, many translated into Russian, German, French, and English.

His later collections such as The Wall, The Man Who Really Loved Literature, and A Man Walking Along the Road retained their playful wisdom and moral depth.

He received the prestigious Saba Literary Prize in 2010 for lifetime achievement and the Order of Saint George from the Georgian Patriarchate in 2013.

Dochanashvili’s legacy lies in proving that Georgian prose could be both deeply national and universally resonant, influencing generations to write with courage, wit, and humanity.

Social Media

• Guram Dochanashvili does not have a social media account

Personal Life

Guram Dochanashvili married Natela Sepiashvili, a theatre scholar and translator, in the early 1960s. The couple raised three children together and shared a lifelong partnership rooted in literature and quiet devotion.

One child predeceased him, a loss he rarely spoke of publicly but which echoed in his later, more contemplative works. He passed away on April 3, 2021, after a long illness and was buried in Saburtalo Pantheon beside Georgia’s cultural giants.

Filmography

• The First Garment (1988) – feature film adaptation
• The Song of the Mountain and the Wind (1992) – screenplay

Net Worth

Guram Dochanashvili’s net worth has not been publicly disclosed; however, estimates place it between $100,000 and $500,000. As a Soviet-era writer and state-employed archaeologist, his earnings originated from moderate literary fees, royalties from widely circulated Georgian and Russian editions, and later a pension augmented by the Saba Prize and international translation royalties.