Zurab Karumidze, born in 1957, studied English language and literature at Tbilisi State University, where he wrote a dissertation on John Donne.

For several years he was a research associate at the Centre for Twentieth Century Literary Studies at Tbilisi State University.

Karumidze was appointed editor of the Tbilisi-based English-language literary magazines Georgia/Caucasus Profile (1995–2000) and Caucasus Context (2002–2005).

Karumidze was the author of a collection of short stories entitled 'Opera' (1998) and of several novels, including 'The Wine-dark Sea' (2000) and 'Gigo and the Goat' (2003).

His literary works are highly intellectual and experimental as well as being full of references and allusions to Western literature.