Walker Thompson read Russian and German as an undergraduate at Magdalen College, Oxford, from 2014–2018, going on to complete an M.St. in Syriac Studies at Wolfson College in 2019 and a doctorate (Dr. phil.) in Slavic Philology at Heidelberg University in 2024. From 2019–2024, he worked as a junior lecturer and graduate student assistant at Heidelberg University’s Institute for Slavic Studies, and has been based since 2024 at Heidelberg University Computing Centre while continuing to collaborate on academic projects in Slavic Studies. Apart from an enthusiasm for language-learning and linguistics, his research interests lie in the fields of Eastern Orthodox liturgics (including Old Georgian hymnography), historical lexicography and lexicology, and digital humanities.
He first became interested in Georgian culture whilst still in school after attending two events in London: a exhibition by a Georgian photojournalist about the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, and a reading of Dato Magradze’s poetry. Upon finding out that Georgian was offered at the Oxford University Language Center, he jumped on the opportunity to study the language, and has been actively involved in translation projects with Lia since 2016. He is a contributor to three volumes of Georgian–English translations: Unlocking the Door (Cezanne, 2017), Stories from Saba Human Sadness (Cezanne, 2023), and Human Sadness (Daedalus, 2024). He is also involved in the upcoming publication of several translated short stories by Goderdzi Chokheli.
