Section

Stories

Short stories by Pilo Zyba and the Albanian writers we publish.

The Weight of Silence

In London it rains even when it isn’t raining. It is a dampness that gets into your clothes, your hair, your thoughts. Ardit had understood this from his very first month. The city…

Pilo Zyba8 February 2026

Stories

In Class

The teacher put the cassette into the video player, and as soon as the first images appeared on the television, he began to explain with passion and love. “As you can see both on film and from…”

Pilo Zyba

Stories

Unwanted Deaths

The news broke on a Friday evening. Television screens endlessly repeated the bizarre and unusual event that had taken place. Sensation!...

Pilo Zyba

Stories

You Don't Learn Drugs After Fifty

I don't know why I wrote this piece over the grave of my late grandmother. I don't know, is it a confession before her, as if before God because I loved her so much, or...

Pilo Zyba

Stories

A Broken Branch in Salzburg

The young woman had been sitting for several minutes in the café where they had arranged to meet. It was a beautiful café on Luvër Street; opposite stood a large church with…

Pilo Zyba

Stories

The Wanderer

We stopped the car and got out. Evening had just begun to approach with light steps. Through the branches of the trees, the sun hid and reappeared, like a coquettish girl. It had lost its hea…

Pilo Zyba

Stories

The Legend of Tirana Lake

A curtain of leaden clouds had covered Tirana. Thick clouds that looked like a gray baking lid. True, it lacked the heat to bake what lay beneath it, but everyth...

Pilo Zyba

Stories

My Meeting with Janis Ricos

As I approached his house, I cast another glance over myself. I seemed small to myself. Deep in my soul I felt a slight shiver, like the babbling of a b…

Pilo Zyba

Stories

Ah, That Rose

Margarita threw the light blanket aside and ran to the window. She pulled back the curtain and looked outside. Only a wide street, where cars and pedestrians passed, separated her from the a…

Pilo Zyba

Stories

My Gioconda

MY GIOCONDA A Story Leonardo laid the final brushstroke on his canvas and paused. A ray of the setting sun entered through the large second-floor window and fell upon the face...

Pilo Zyba

Stories

The Sexology Professor

She rested her head on her husband’s chest and kissed him lightly on the lips. He closed his eyes and stroked her hair, as he always did after they made love. It had been …

Pilo Zyba26 February 2017

Stories

On the University Steps

Sokrati picked up the TV remote and turned it off. For days, morning and night, he had heard nothing but noise about the passing of an anti-corruption law. He forcefully pulled the door...

Pilo Zyba14 July 2016

Stories

Living with the Past

I slammed the bedroom door shut and threw myself on the bed like a dead woman. Whenever Ilir and I argued, I needed to be alone. I didn’t want to hear anyone, or for anyone to hear...

Pilo Zyba4 February 2012

Stories

It Could Not Happen Otherwise

It could not happen otherwise! All through the hours of the day, I kept you in my mind! Your presence was essential to me both when I sat still and when I walked… we usually walk…

Pilo Zyba21 December 2011

Stories

On the Shore of a Dream

That evening I settled into one of the hotels in the castle of Ulqin. I had the sea in front of me. In the depths of the water, I watched the waves murmuring lullabies of love. Their words reach…

Pilo Zyba6 August 2011