Essays, analysis and criticism on Albanian language, literature and culture.
Founded on 10 July 1920, the National Library of Albania holds over a million items. The 2017 fire and 2018 flood are reminders that a country's written memory does not preserve itself.
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?
13 October marked 95 years since Dritëro Agolli's birth. How does a generation that never knew socialism read the author of “The Splendour and Fall of Comrade Zylo”?
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.
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?
Himara is often discussed in Tirana and Athens but rarely heard in its own voice. A reading of its bilingualism, the property question, and the positions of the Albanian state, Greece and residents.
Nine months after Kadare's 90th birth anniversary, it remains to be seen whether the celebrations will turn into reading, scholarship and lasting institutions.
“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.
Kosovo once again has a government and a president. But the deadlock that began in February 2025 left its mark on cinemas, festivals and culture funding. What was lost, and what must be shielded from politics.
Thirty-five years after the first border crossings, emigration to Greece has produced a literature written in two languages and addressed to two readerships.
Albanian children’s literature has a long tradition, yet today’s market favours translations. What publishers, authors and illustrators say, and what is lost.
Almost three years after it was signed, the protocol on Italian-run centres in Albania remains contested. The facts, the court rulings and where each side stands.
In the Vjosa valley, the names of villages outlive their inhabitants. An essay on Përmet, Grabovë and what literature keeps when the houses close.
