Gela Charkviani is a Georgian diplomat, educator, writer, and television personality, and the son of the late Candide Charkviani, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Georgia from 1938 to 1952. He taught sociology and English in the Institute of Foreign Languages and Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University for many years. He was the Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze’s advisor on international issues from 1992 to 2003, the president’s aide and press secretary from 2005 to 2006, and the Georgian ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2006 to 2009. He is the author of Stalin’s Georgian Dimension and the memoir Eleven Years by Shevi’s Side.