TIRANA, July 7 – Five renowned Albanian authors will have their works translated into foreign languages as part of a project promoting Albanian literature abroad.
Bashkim Shehu, the son of communist political leader Mehmet Shehu who was incarcerated as a political prisoner in the early 1980s following his father’s death, will have his “Angelus Novus” book translated into Spanish.
Prose writer Fatos Kongoli, one of the most prominent representatives of contemporary Albanian literature, will have his “Iluzione nà« sirtar” book translated into Italian.
A poetry collection by Luljeta Lleshanaku, who belongs to the first “post-totalitarian” generation of Albanian poets will be translated into Slovak.
Mira Meksi, who last year represented Albania in in the Balkanika Literary Award, will have her latest novel “Mallkimi i Priftereshave te Lirise,” translated into Italian.
Theatre director and writer Stefan Capaliku and writer Ridvan Dibra will be translated into French.
All books will be published by foreign publishing houses who have been partially supported under a Euro 15,000 literature promotion fund by the culture ministry.
While much Albanian literature has been translated into French, and some major and minor works are available in Italian, German, and Russian, even Spanish, English-language translations, with the exception of some works of Kadare, have been sadly missing in bookstores and on bookshelves.
Canadian Albanologist Robert Elsie says the situation has nothing to do with a lack of quality in the original but is mainly related to Albania’s isolation under communism.
“In addition to the historical and political factors, Albanian is not an easy language to learn, and there are few foreigners who have managed to master it sufficiently to be able to translate literary texts,” he says.
