Today we talk about A BIG SHE-BEAR –A Story of Mountains, a book by Mikho Mosulishvili published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Mikho Mosulishvili to get to know him better, where and when he found the inspiration to the write his book A BIG SHE-BEAR –A Story of Mountains, as well as the crucial themes of his story.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- Where and when did you find the inspiration to write your book?
After graduating from the Faculty of Geology at Tbilisi State University, I spent seven years working on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains, in the regions of Pshavi and Khevsureti. From spring to autumn, I lived among the locals, listened to their stories, and carefully recorded everything in my notebook. Among those notes were captivating tales about the bear—not just as an animal, but as a mythical being deeply woven into local folklore. There’s a big difference between a folk tale and its artistic transformation—bringing it to life in a way that feels vivid and believable to a modern reader is a real challenge. I began writing many times, and even more often I stopped: I wrote, revised, rewrote, set it aside, and returned to it again. It took more than a quarter of a century to write this piece the way it was meant to be. And in the end, when the text was finally ready, I realized that this book had worked on me more than I had worked on it.
- What is the message you want to convey to your readers?
With this book, I wanted to highlight the essential need for living in harmony with nature. The conflict between human and bear in the story serves as a metaphor: those who reject love and act solely through envy and the pursuit of power ultimately bring about their own destruction, both individually and collectively. Violence against nature inevitably invites a violent response from nature itself. The message also speaks to our inner world. Within each of us coexist Christian, godless, and pagan dimensions. Until we learn to reconcile these forces, we remain trapped in fear and aggression, just like the villagers of Shuburi in the book. Myth, dreams, and reality are all threads of the same fabric. We must learn to listen to the forest, to dreams, to birds and animals, to the mist, like a child would, because everything we observe with love begins to speak.
- What are the crucial themes of your story?
The Great She Bear weaves together several themes that flow into one another like springs, waterfalls, and wind intersect across the mountains. At the heart of the novel lies the conflict between humans and nature: when people view the forest and the bear as enemies, they ultimately set in motion an ecological catastrophe. This isn’t just about environmental protection, it’s about the ethics of existence, about survival itself. Another profound layer of the story explores violence against women and the pressure traditional societies impose on the individual. Lela, the novel’s protagonist, doesn’t conform to the rules her village has long upheld. She becomes a sacrifice, but it is her voice that exposes the suffocating grip of outdated morality. This is a form of inner heroism—one that either sparks transformation or reveals the society’s resistance to change. The book also delves into the dilemma between soul and body: if a mother has turned into a bear, what remains of her humanity? And finally, the novel is about the unity of myth, fairy tale, and everyday life—how paganism, Christianity, and modernity coexist in the daily rhythms of the villagers of Shuburi.
- How did it feel to see your book published?
For a Georgian writer, seeing their work published in English is an immense joy. Georgian literature, long hidden behind the iron curtain of the Soviet empire has finally been set free. Now, it has the opportunity to find its voice and place on the international literary stage. But the feeling goes beyond joy. It’s something closer to what I would call the reversal of pain. I spent years writing this novel—revising it, losing it, rediscovering it. When it was published in Georgian, I thought the journey had ended. But it hadn’t. With the English edition, the story found new life in a language spoken by more than half the world. The English version, with its striking cover of a bear standing in the snow, the beautifully rendered translation, and the high-quality editing, is a tribute by Europe Books to the world I imagined, and to the people who live in the misty valleys of the Caucasus. I’m deeply grateful for that. I’m also thankful to my daughter, Ani, who was the very first to read the book and later collaborated closely with Europe Books. When the first copies arrived at my home, I felt, just for a moment, that my voice might be heard in many places, perhaps even across the entire world. And I wondered: maybe the work I’ve been doing all these years really does matter.
- Are you working on a new writing project, you can tell us about?
I’m currently working on a novel that connects two distant yet spiritually similar mountain worlds: Georgia’s Caucasus and Colombia’s Andes. Despite the geographical divide, both cultures share a deep-rooted sense of freedom, spiritual intensity, and a poetic relationship with life and death. In this story, Georgian and Colombian characters meet not just on physical paths, but in the deeper layers of existence where words become actions, and emotions turn into poetry. I believe there’s a universal soul that lives across continents, speaking the same language: the language of high poetry. Writing this novel is a challenge, but I’ve always been drawn to books that are hard to write and easy to read. What I’m trying to capture is that mysterious, unspoken force that connects people beyond borders, something timeless, essential, and deeply human.
Europe Books thanks the author Mikho Mosulishvili once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside him on the editorial path that led to the publication of his book A BIG SHE-BEAR –A Story of Mountains. We wish him the best of luck for his book and for his future works.
To you, my readers, may this book provide you with food for thought to live in harmony with your relationship with nature, and what needs to be done to respect and not violate it. Nature speaks to us, sending us signals and messages that can help us restore harmony within ourselves and towards those around us.
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your editor!