Lea Ypi Last updated January 11, 2026 Albanian professor of political theory (born 1979)
Lea Ypi FBA [ 1] is an Albanian academic and author. She is the Ralph Miliband Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the London School of Economics . [ 2]
Background and early life Ypi was born in Tirana ,Albania,the eldest child of Xhaferr Ypi and Vjollca Veli,who were relatively regular citizens under communist rule,but who later became involved in Albanian democratic politics in Ypi's late childhood prior to the 1997 Albanian civil unrest . [ 3] She grew up in both communist and post-communist Albania,the experience of this transition being the main topic of her book Free:Coming of Age at the End of History (2021). Her historically Muslim family was compelled to be atheist under communist rule (Ypi says she is now agnostic). [ 4] One of her paternal great-grandfathers,Xhafer Ypi ,was briefly Prime Minister of Albania in the 1920s,and also very briefly headed the Albanian government at the beginning of the Italian occupation. [ 5] His son,Ypi's grandfather,was imprisoned by Albania's communist government for 15 years. [ 6]
Works Ypi's research interests are in normative political theory (including democratic theory ,theories of justice,and issues of migration and territorial rights),Enlightenment political thought (especially Kant ),Marxism and critical theory ,as well as the intellectual history of the Balkans ,especially her native Albania. [ 10]
Her 2021 book Free:Coming of Age at the End of History [ 11] [ 12] was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize [ 13] and the Costa Book Award for Biography . [ 14] It won the Ondaatje Prize , [ 15] the Slightly Foxed First Biography Prize, [ 16] and was listed by The Sunday Times as one of their twelve "exceptional memoirs" published in the last 30 years. [ 17] [ 18] In 2022,BBC Radio 4 serialised the book in their Book of the Week series. [ 19]
Ypi's 2025 book Indignity [ 20] is another family history which explores the concept of dignity from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire ,to the arrival of Communism in the Balkans ,through the life of Ypi's grandmother. It was published by Penguin Press in the UK and Farrar,Strauss and Giroux in the USA. It received reviews by the The Observer , [ 21] The Economist , [ 22] The New York Times , [ 23] The Washington Post , [ 24] Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [ 25] and The Christian Science Monitor . [ 26] It was a book of the year for the Sunday Times , [ 27] The Washington Post [ 28] and NPR , [ 29] and became a bestseller in a number of European countries. [ 30]
Her work appeared in Boston Review . [ 31]
Selected bibliography The Meaning of Partisanship (with Jonathan White),Oxford University Press ,2016. [ 38] Global Justice and Avant-Garde Political Agency ,Oxford University Press ,2012. [ 39] Kant and Colonialism:Historical and Critical Perspectives (co-edited with Katrin Flikschuh),Oxford University Press ,2014. [ 40] Migration in Political Theory:The Ethics of Movement and Membership (co-edited with Sarah Fine),Oxford University Press ,2016. [ 41] Free:Coming of Age at the End of History ,Penguin,2021. [ 42] The Architectonic of Reason:Purposiveness and Systematic Unity in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason ,Oxford University Press ,2021.Indignity:A Life Reimagined ,Penguin Books,2025. [ 43] [ 44] References ↑ "About Me" . Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. ↑ https://www.lse.ac.uk/people/lea-ypi ↑ Harding, Luke (25 October 2021). "Free by Lea Ypi review – a riveting portrait of growing up in communist Albania" . The Guardian . Retrieved 27 August 2022 . ↑ Kellaway, Kate (4 June 2022). "Interview - Lea Ypi: 'Hope is a moral duty' . The Guardian . ↑ Jeffries, Stuart (28 October 2021). "Free by Lea Ypi review – a memoir of life amid the collapse of communism" . The Guardian . Retrieved 26 September 2022 . ↑ Weaver, Matthew (3 January 2022). "Author says memoir of communist Albania met with 'vicious' abuse" . The Guardian . Retrieved 3 January 2022 . 1 2 "CV" . Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2021 . ↑ "Statist cosmopolitanism" . European University Institute . 30 June 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024 . ↑ "Lea Ypi" . 30 June 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024 . ↑ "Lea Ypi" . LSE Personal Web . Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2022 . ↑ Ypi, Lea (2021). Free: Coming of Age at the End of History . Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-241-48185-1 OCLC 1263810396 . ↑ Ypi, Lea (4 November 2021). Free: coming of age at the end of history LSE Online Event . Interviewed by Kaldor, Mary. YouTube. Retrieved 4 February 2022 . ↑ "Shortlist announced for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction | The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction" . thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk . Retrieved 22 March 2022 . ↑ https://www.costa.co.uk/behind-the-beans/costa-book-awards/book-awards ↑ "RSL Ondaatje Prize 2022 Shortlist Announced" . Royal Society of Literature . 20 April 2022. Archived from the original on 20 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022 . ↑ "Best First Biography Prize Archives" . Slightly Foxed . Retrieved 20 April 2022 . ↑ Hackett, Laura (21 October 2021). "Free by Lea Ypi review — growing up in Enver Hoxha's communist Albania" . The Sunday Times . London: The Times Media Ltd. ISSN 0140-0460 . Archived from the original on 20 August 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2026 . ↑ Goldsbrough, Susie (15 December 2023). "12 exceptional memoirs from the past 30 years" . The Sunday Times . London: The Times Media Ltd. ISSN 0140-0460 . Archived from the original on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2026 . ↑ Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi . Retrieved 4 February 2022 . ↑ Ypi, Lea (2025). Indignity: a life reimagined . London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-241-78537-9 OCLC 1501531341 . ↑ Boyd, William. "Love, war and life on the edge of history" . The Observer . Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ "A story of occupations, surveillance and exile in Albania" . The Economist . ISSN 0013-0613 . Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ Graver, Elizabeth (31 October 2025). "Book Review: 'Indignity,' by Lea Ypi" . The New York Times . Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ Rothfeld, Becca (31 October 2025). "She found an old photo, then reimagined her grandmother's life" . The Washington Post . Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ "Philosophin Lea Ypi: „Moralischer Fortschritt ist eine praktische Notwendigkeit" . FAZ.NET (in German). 15 September 2025. Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ Spindel, Barbara (12 January 2025). "Civil servant or fascist spy? Hunting for the truth about her Albanian grandmother" . The Christian Science Monitor . Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society. p. 32-33. ISSN 0882-7729 . Archived from the original on 31 December 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2026 . ↑ "The Times and Sunday Times: Books of the Year 2025" . timesbookshop.co.uk . Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ "50 notable works of nonfiction from 2025" . The Washington Post . 20 November 2025. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ "Books We Love" . NPR . Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ Ypi, Lea (17 September 2025). "Aufrecht. Buch von Lea Ypi (Suhrkamp Verlag)" [ Indignity. Book from Lea Ypi (Suhrkamp Verlag)] . Suhrkamp Verlag (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ "Lea Ypi" . Boston Review . Retrieved 7 December 2025 . ↑ "World's Top Thinkers 2022: the results" . Prospect . Retrieved 9 May 2025 . ↑ "Die Kulturpersonen 2022" . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 28 December 2022. ↑ Ideas (31 December 2023). "Seis pensadores que marcaron el año 2023" . El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2024 . ↑ "Academy of Europe: Ypi Lea" . www.ae-info.org . ↑ "The Deutscher Memorial Prize" . The Deutscher Memorial Prize . ↑ "The British Academy welcomes 86 new Fellows in 2024" . The British Academy . 18 July 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024 . ↑ The Meaning of Partisanship ISBN 978-0-19-968417-5 ↑ Global Justice and Avant-Garde Political Agency ISBN 978-0-19-879866-8 ↑ Kant and Colonialism: Historical and Critical Perspectives ISBN 978-0-19-966962-2 ↑ Migration in Political Theory ISBN 978-0-19-884308-5 ↑ "Lea Ypi" . www.penguin.co.uk . Retrieved 16 January 2024 . ↑ "Review | She found an old photo, then reimagined her grandmother's life" . The Washington Post . 31 October 2025. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved 2 November 2025 . ↑ Graver, Elizabeth (31 October 2025). "Book Review: 'Indignity,' by Lea Ypi" . The New York Times . Retrieved 7 December 2025 . External links
International National Academics People Other
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
