Section

Culture

Literature, visual art, music and analysis of cultural phenomena.

Village libraries: the map no one has drawn

The National Library is often discussed, village shelves rarely. An essay on libraries disappearing along with their readers, and on the absence of data about them.

Enri Zhulati16 October 20264 min read

Culture

The “At Zef Pllumi” prize and Zija Çela: a memory a town keeps alive

In Lezhë, the prize named after the Franciscan who spent 26 years in the dictatorship's prisons went this spring to Zija Çela for his novel “Koka mbi katror”.

Enri Zhulati16 October 2026

Culture

EU Prize for Literature 2026: Kosovo on the list, Albania waiting its turn

Arben Idrizi represented Kosovo on the 14-author shortlist for the 2026 EU Prize for Literature. Albania was absent, not through neglect but through rotation. What does that tell us?

Enri Zhulati16 October 2026

Culture

DokuFest 25: Prizren and a quarter-century of documentary

In August, DokuFest reached its 25th edition with 223 films in seven cinemas. How did a documentary festival change a small city, and what can the rest of Kosovo and Albania learn from it?

Enri Zhulati15 October 2026

Culture

Albanian fables: the fox, the donkey and the lesson that remains

From Santori’s manuscripts and Albanian versions of Aesop to Naim and Çajupi: the rich history of the fable in Albanian, and whether this old form still has a place today.

Enri Zhulati15 October 2026

Culture

Between two festivals: iso-polyphony when the Gjirokastër stage falls silent

The National Folk Festival is held, in principle, every five years in Gjirokastër Castle. But in the years between, who keeps alive the iso-polyphonic song that UNESCO declared a heritage of humanity?

Enri Zhulati15 October 2026

Culture

Lea Ypi and the grandmother from Salonica: family memory in the age of strangers' archives

“Indignity”, Lea Ypi's second book, begins with a 1941 photograph posted by a stranger. A work about dignity, archives and the question of who owns a family's memory.

Enri Zhulati15 October 2026

Culture

Albanian émigré literature in Greece: writing from the other side

Thirty-five years after the first border crossings, emigration to Greece has produced a literature written in two languages and addressed to two readerships.

Enri Zhulati15 October 2026

Culture

Where are the Albanian children’s books?

Albanian children’s literature has a long tradition, yet today’s market favours translations. What publishers, authors and illustrators say, and what is lost.

Enri Zhulati14 October 2026

Culture

The new National Theatre: six years after the demolition, still without an opening date

The National Theatre building was demolished on 17 May 2020. Deadlines for the new theatre have slipped from 2023 to 2025 and beyond. What, in the end, does a new building replace?

Enri Zhulati14 October 2026

Culture

TIFF 2026: “Humanography” and cinema as human memory

The 24th Tirana International Film Festival, 21–27 September, put human stories at its centre, from Teona Strugar Mitevska's Mother Teresa film to a restored “Mimoza Llastica”.

Enri Zhulati14 October 2026