“Life in a box of matches” – Fatos Kongoli’s, latest book

Fatos Kongoli is on of the most famous Albanian writers, who had a great success during the last years in Albania and abroad. He has just published his new book “Life in a box of matches”, which has been presented yesterday in Tirana, during an activity about the life story and the career of the author. The book recounts the perceptions of the author as a witness of the narrow spaces of our lives where everyone feels stuck. This is about a society where the lack of equality and communication set in front of each other, as in a mirror, the evil, and the human weakness for salvation. The event was organized by the publishing house “Toena” which has the exclusive right for publishing the books of the author. During the meeting, the guests held a discussion about the most successful books of the author. After his last five books part of the cycle of “The prisons of the memory”, which includes “The lost”, “The ivory dragon”, “Damocles’ dream” and “The skin of the dog”, which rated him as one the top writers in Albania, the author Fatos Kongoli, surprised the Albanian readers with his book “At the Saint Peter’s gate”. The book came out in 1200 copies and became famous after a week. After this success it was republished for the fourth time in France by the publishing house “Rivages”. This is the tenth book of Kongoli which has been published by this house, during the last 10 years. “Fatos Kongoli is a very well known writer also in France. His books give to the French readers the possibility to know the literature of a place as Albania” – said the director of the “Rivages”, Katerina Argand. Another very successful book of Fatos Kongoli is “The skin of the dog”, which as been published in Poland in the end of February. It has been translated by Dorota Horodyska, and it is published by the Evdaenicteo Czazne publishing house which is ran by one of the most famous contemporary authors of Poland Andrzej Stasiuk. The book wass published for its first time in Albania in 2003 by “Toena” and it is part of the cycle “The prisons of memory”. In November 2006 “The skin of the dog” has been awarded as the “Book of the month” in Germany, translated by the well known translator Joachim Roehm and published by the “Ammann Verlag”.