Born in 1936, Ismail Kadare is Albania’s best-known poet and novelist. In 2005 he was awarded the inaugural Man Booker International Prize for “a body of work written by an author who has had a truly global impact.” He also received the 2009 Prince of Asturias Prize in Spain, and he won the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society in 2015. WLT published “The Blinding Order,” an excerpt from Agamemnon’s Daughter, in 2006 and has been reviewing Kadare’s work since the publication of Le général de l’armée morte in 1970.
Kadare is a champion of international democracy and in 1990 went into political asylum in France. He has written, “I became familiar with literature before I knew freedom, so that it was literature that led me to liberty, not the other way around. Faith in literature and in the creative process brings protection. It generates antibodies that allow you to struggle against state terror.” Kadare lives in Paris and Tirana.
Continue reading your story on the app
Continue reading your story in the magazine
Our Revenge Will Be the Laughter of Our Children
What is it about the revolutionary that draws our fascinated attention? Whether one calls it the North of Ireland or Northern Ireland, the Troubles continue to haunt the land and those who lived through them.
Turtles
In a field near the Gaza Strip, a missile strike, visions, and onlookers searching for an explanation.
Surviving and Subverting the Totalitarian State: A Tribute to Ismail Kadareby Kapka Kassabova
As part of the ceremony honoring Kadare as the 2020 laureate—with participants logging in from dozens of countries around the world— Kadare’s nominating juror, Kapka Kassabova, offered a video tribute from her home in Scotland.
Dead Storms and Literature's New Horizon: The 2020 Neustadt Prize Lecture
During the Neustadt Prize ceremony on October 21, 2020, David Bellos read the English language version of Kadare’s prize lecture to a worldwide Zoom audience.
Ismail Kadare: Winner of the 2020 Neustadt International Prize for Literature
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, World Literature Today presented the 2020 Neustadt Festival 100 percent online. In the lead-up to the festival, U.S. Ambassador Yuri Kim officially presented the award to Kadare at a ceremony in Tirana in late August, attended by members of Kadare’s family; Elva Margariti, the Albanian minister of culture; and Besiana Kadare, Albania’s ambassador to the United Nations.
How to Adopt a Cat
Hoping battles knowing in this three-act seduction (spoiler alert: there’s a cat in the story).
Chicken Soup: The Story of a Jewish Family
Chickens, from Bessarabia to New York City, provide a generational through-line in these four vignettes.
Awl
“Awl” is from a series titled “Words I Did Not Understand.” Through memory—“the first screen of nostalgia”—and language, a writer pieces together her story of home.
Apocalyptic Scenarios and Inner Worlds
A Conversation with Gloria Susana Esquivel
Marie's Proof of Love
People believe, Marie thinks, even when there’s no proof. You believe because you imagine. But is imagination enough to live by?
The Shadow Royals
Across Europe, the descendants of dethroned monarchs believe they have something to offer in the 21st Century
UN BLOQUE PARA PROTEGER EL IDEARIO COMUNISTA LOS PAISES SATELITE DE LA USSR
Stalin logró extender el control de su país sobre otros siete, abarcando más de un millón de kilómetros cuadrados de territorio y 92 millones de personas. Su enfrentamiento con el bloque occidental liderado por Estados Unidos estuvo a punto de derivar más de una vez en una Tercera Guerra Mundial.
Ugly stands: Hungary fans clash with police; bottles hurled at Poland players
WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Football's great shame
Racism Rears Its Ugly Head Again As Eng, Poland Bear The Brunt
Off the Beaten Track Hiking via Dinarica- Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo
The author takes us on a hiking trip to Via Dinarica, through Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo.
How I Took On Hollywood & Won
He turned Netflix into an entertainment superpower. Now CEO Reed Hastings has revealed the ruthless techniques he used to propel his firm to the top
Adriatic alternatives
Nicola Beykirch works her way north from the Ionian islands to explore Albania and Montenegro two Balkan nations of contrasting allure
RECOGNIZING THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE AS ONE
THE FIRST EVER CROSS-BORDER INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AID ORGANISATION BASED ON THE SIKH PRINCIPLES, KHALSA AID INTERNATIONAL IS A FORCE TO RECKON WITH PHILANTHROPY, PERSEVERANCE, AND HUMANITY!
ANCIENT CITIES OF ILLYRIA
Albania, one of Europe’s smallest and least-known countries, is an archaeological treasure-house. Oliver Gilkes, an archaeologist with 20 years of experience there, provides an introduction.
COMMUNITY COMPUTING
Erstwhile scourge of the community Jonni Bidwell meets community hacker Jona Azizaj at the Open Source Summit to talk hacking and happiness (packets).