TIRANA, Oct. 3 – Albania’s perennial nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature has been rated among the top favourites even this year which Albania has declared as the Kadare Year to honor the country’s most internationally renowned writer on his 80th birthday.
The country’s Academy of Science, which has submitted a request with the Swedish Academy’s Nobel Committee, says it has included some extra arguments in this year’s application.
“In this year’s request we have included as arguments not only the extraordinary global dimensions Kadare carries, the fact that his works have been translated into 45 languages and that he has received worldwide critical acclaim,” says Floresha Dado, the head of the Albanology Department at the Albanian Academy of Science.
“Kadare has become part of the spiritual world of many nations around the world. I don’t know what a writer can do more to get the Nobel Award rather than having his works published worldwide, receiving critical acclaim and winning several important international awards,” she adds.
The Albanian writer has been rated among the top five favorites by UK-based Nicer Odds portal for the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Kadare, a previous winner of Man Booker International Prize, has said winning the Nobel Prize “would be a very good image for Albania against its misdeeds.”
“It would give Albania an image as a small country with an ancient language,” Kadare has said.
Ylljet Alià§ka, a writer and former Albanian ambassador to France, Kadare’s second home, says Albania should be proud Kadare has been a Nobel nominee for decades.
“I find it impossible to find the reason or find out why Kadare or any other nominee does not win the Nobel Prize. But if we look at the positive side of a possible next loss, I think this has to do with the fact for several decades, an Albanian author writing in Albanian has been present on the list of Nobel nominees,” he says.
Albania’s internationally renowned writer Ismail Kadare was promoted to the rank of Commander in the Legion of Honour, France’s highest decoration, this year as a reward for outstanding merit in a civilian capacity in the country where he has been spending most of his time since 1990 when he left Albania just as the communist regime was collapsing.
The 17th century house of Albania’s internationally renowned writer Ismail Kadare in his hometown of Gjirokastra reopened as a museum following reconstruction on January 28 this year, when the perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature marked his 80th birthday.
Back in 2015, Kadare, was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for his works expressing and promoting the idea of the “freedom of the individual in society.” He was also honored with a flag ceremony at the United States Capitol Building in Washington, DC.
An internationally renowned poet, novelist and essayist, Ismail Kadare has been perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize for literature. His international acclaim for his works peaked in 2005 when he won the Man Booker International Prize.
Kadare, known for writing about Albania’s totalitarian government, has had his works translated more than 40 languages, the most famous of which is “The General of the Dead Army.”
