Ismail Kadare is an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright. He has been a leading literary figure in Albania since the 1960s. He focused on poetry until the publication of his first novel, The General of the Dead Army, which made him a leading literary figure in Albania and famous internationally. In 1996, France made him a foreign associate of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques of France.
Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in the Albanian language. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particularly in Italy. The Albanian language occupies an independent branch within the Indo-European family and does not have any other closely related language. The origin of the Albanian language is not entirely known, but it may be a successor of the ancient Illyrian language.
Rexhep Qosja (born 1936 in Vusanje, Zeta Banovina is a prominent Albanian writer and literary critic from a part of Malësia in modern Montenegro. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pristina and graduated with a master's degree from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology in 1968.
Ibrahim Aqif Biçakçiu was an Albanian landowner and Axis collaborator, Chairman of the Provisional Executive Committee from September 14 to October 24, 1943, and Prime Minister of Albania from September 6 to October 26, 1944 during the Nazi occupation.
Bilal Xhaferri was an Albanian writer and political dissident against the Albanian communist regime. He is seen as the representative poet of the Albanian Chameria.
Rauf Dhomi is a Kosovan classical music composer and conductor and a teacher at the University of Pristina. Dhomi is the author of many operas, requiems, masses, cantatas, symphonic music, film scores and theater music.
Teodor Laço was an Albanian writer and diplomat.
Gani Bobi was an Albanian philosopher and sociologist from Kosovo. He was born in Lubenić, municipality of Peć, Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. He was one of the first Albanian professors of sociology and philosophy at the University of Pristina (1981). He got a doctorate degree in sociology at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy in 1986 after finishing his studies in language and literature at the University of Pristina. He lived in Pristina. His publications have been published in five volumes called Vepra. Among his main publications were Sprovimet e modernitetit (1982), Paradoks kulturor (1986) and Konteksti i vetëkulturës (1994), some of them translated into English and Serbian.
Tahir Emra is an Albanian painter. He is a member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo.
The Kosova Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Kosovo.
Albanian epic poetry is a form of epic poetry created by the Albanian people. It consists of a longstanding oral tradition still very much alive. A good number of Albanian rhapsodes can be found today in Kosovo and northern Albania, and some also in Montenegro. Northern Albanian epic poetry is performed singing to the accompaniment of the lahutë or çifteli.
Shote Galica, born as Qerime Halil Radisheva, was a Kachak Albanian insurgent. She has been declared a People's Heroine of Albania.
Ali Shukriu was a political figure of Kosovo, during its period as an autonomous province of Yugoslavia. He served as the 2nd Chairmen of the Executive Council of SAP Kosovo from 1963 until May 1967, 2nd President of the Presidency of SAP Kosovo from August 1981 to 1982 and lastly as the 7th President of the Presidium of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia from 26 June 1984 until 25 June 1985.
Esad Mekuli was an Albanian poet, critic and translator. He was the first president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. Robert Elsie considered him the father of modern Albanian poetry in Yugoslavia, and his influence in Kosovo remains immense.
Kasëm Trebeshina was an Albanian member of national resistance during World War II part of the National Liberation Movement, an actor, translator, communist prosecutor and writer. He was one of the founders of the notorious communist secret police Sigurimi.
Helena "Elena" Gushi Kadare is an Albanian author of short stories and novels. One of these, 1970's Një lindje e vështirë, is the first by a woman to have been published in Albania.
Skënder Rizaj is an Albanian scholar and historian. He specialises in the Ottoman period of Balkans history.
Jusuf Buxhovi is a Kosovar-Albanian author, journalist, intellectual, and political activist.
The literature of Kosovo is composed of literary texts written in the Albanian, Serbian, Bosnian and Turkish language, specifically by authors of Kosovo. Kosovo produced several prominent writers in the Ottoman era. However, Ottoman authorities banned the written use of the Albanian language until 1912. This policy continued during Serb rule until the outbreak of World War II.
The Kadare Prize, established in 2015, is a literary prize awarded annually to a work by an Albanian author. It is named in honour of the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. Winners are awarded 10,000 euros.
