Zef ZORBA
Biography Poetry Zef ZORBA The literary significance of the poetic works of Zef Zorba (1920-1993) was only discovered after his death in January 1993. He has since joined the ranks of the great classics of Albanian poetry stifled by the communist regime. Zef Zorba was born in Kotor in Montenegro of an Albanian family. […]
Visar ZHITI
Biography Poetry Visar ZHITI Visar Zhiti (b. 1952) is the Albanian writer whose life and works perhaps best mirror the history of his nation. He was one of the many to have suffered appalling persecution for no apparent reason. But Visar Zhiti survived – physically, intellectually and emotionally, and he is now among the most […]
Bilal XHAFERRI
Biography Poetry Bilal XHAFERRI Bilal Xhaferri (1935-1986) is the poetic voice of Albanian Chameria (Çamëria), the southernmost portion of ethnic Albanian territory, which is now for the most part in Greece. He was born in the village of Ninat, near Konispol, and grew up as an orphan there and in Saranda. Xhaferri’s first poetry […]
Olimbi VELAJ
Biography Poetry Olimbi VELAJ Olimbi Velaj (b. 1971) was born in Mallakastra in the mountains of southern Albania. She studied in Tirana and Sofia and has worked as a journalist. Velaj is the author of the lyric volumes Çastet vdesin nën akrepa oresh (Moments Perish under the Hands of Clocks), Tirana 1998; and Qenia pasdite (Afternoon Existence), […]
Kasëm TREBESHINA
Biography Poetry Kasëm TREBESHINA Among the little-known figures of the early years of postwar Albanian literature is Kasëm Trebeshina (b. 1926). Trebeshina was born in Berat and studied at the Shkolla Normale (Normal School) in Elbasan until joining the communist resistance movement in 1942. After the war he studied at the Ostrovsky Theatre Institute in Leningrad. A […]
Xhevahir SPAHIU
Biography Poetry Xhevahir SPAHIU The region of Skrapar at the foot of lofty Mount Tomorr, the legendary Father Tomorr of Albanian mythology, is also the home of Xhevahir Spahiu (b. 1945), one of the most forceful, vociferous and talented poets of modern Albania, a voice of survival. During the 1973 Purge of the Liberals, dictator […]
Primo SHLLAKU
Biography Poetry Primo SHLLAKU Primo Shllaku (b. 1947) is a major figure of Albanian verse from Shkodra. He began writing surreptitiously during the dictatorship. He tells us that all his poems “grew and matured in the shadows. That can be their death or to their honour.” He currently lives in Athens, Greece, where he […]
Dhori QIRIAZI
Biography Poetry Dhori QIRIAZI Born in Kolonja in southern Albania, Dhori Qiriazi (b. 1933) studied at the Faculty of History and Philology of the University of Tirana and then turned to teaching. His early poetry appeared in the Albanian literary journal Nëntori (November), and he subsequently published several verse collections: Kur zemra rreh së pari, Tirana 1958 (When the […]
Rita PETRO
Biography Poetry Rita PETRO Rita Petro (b. 1962), also known as Rita Filipi, was born in Tirana and studied Albanian language and literature at the University there from 1980-1984. She thereafter worked in the publishing industry in Tirana. In 1993 she did post-graduate studies at the University of Athens. Petro’s verse, some of which […]
Rudolf MARKU
Biography Poetry Rudolf MARKU Rudolf Marku (b. 1952) was born and raised in Lezha. He graduated from the University of Tirana in 1968 and taught school for some time. Marku worked for a number of years as editor of the Tirana literary newspaper Drita (The light) where he introduced many new and previously ostracized writers to the […]