The Albanian distinguished writer, Ismail Kadare will be awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature this year, the US Embassy in Tirana announced over social media today. As one of the world’s premier literary events, the The Neustadt Prize and Festival is a celebration of international books and culture sponsored by World Literature Today and hosted by The University of Oklahoma. The Prize was established in 1970 . The charter of the Neustadt Prize stipulates that the award be given in recognition of outstanding achievement in poetry, fiction, or drama and that it be conferred solely on the basis of literary merit.
Ismail Kadare was born on 28 January 1936 in Gjirokastër in Albania. His works have been translated into dozens of languages worldwide and he has become Albania’s best-known poet and novelist. He has been recognized for his accomplishments worldwide has received a Booker Prize and often been proposed for the Nobel Prize in literature.
