The Most Famous

WRITERS from Albania

This page contains a list of the greatest Albanian Writers. The pantheon dataset contains 7,302 Writers, 8 of which were born in Albania. This makes Albania the birth place of the 69th most number of Writers behind Tunisia, and Kazakhstan.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Albanian Writers of all time. This list of famous Albanian Writers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Albanian Writers.

1. Ismail Kadare (1936 - 2024)

With an HPI of 68.33, Ismail Kadare is the most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 67 different languages on wikipedia.

Ismail Kadare (Albanian: [ismaˈil kadaˈɾe]; 28 January 1936 – 1 July 2024) was an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright. He was a leading international literary figure and intellectual. He focused on poetry until the publication of his first novel, The General of the Dead Army, which made him famous internationally. Kadare is regarded by some as one of the greatest writers and intellectuals of the 20th and 21st centuries, and as a universal voice against totalitarianism. Living in Albania during a time of strict censorship, he devised stratagems to outwit Communist censors who had banned three of his books, using devices such as parable, myth, fable, folk-tale, allegory, and legend, sprinkled with double-entendre, allusion, insinuation, satire, and coded messages. In 1990, to escape the Communist regime and its Sigurimi secret police, he defected to Paris. From the 1990s he was asked by both major political parties in Albania to become a consensual President of the country, but declined. In 1996, France made him a foreign associate of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, and in 2016, he was a Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur recipient. Kadare was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 15 times. In 1992, he was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca; in 1998, the Herder Prize; in 2005, the inaugural Man Booker International Prize; in 2009, the Prince of Asturias Award of Arts; and in 2015, the Jerusalem Prize. He was awarded the Park Kyong-ni Prize in 2019, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2020. His nominating juror for the Neustadt Prize wrote: "Kadare is the successor of Franz Kafka. No one since Kafka has delved into the infernal mechanism of totalitarian power and its impact on the human soul in as much hypnotic depth as Kadare." His writing has also been compared to that of Nikolai Gogol, George Orwell, Gabriel García Márquez, Milan Kundera, and Balzac. His works have been published in 45 languages. The New York Times wrote that he was a national figure in Albania comparable in popularity perhaps to Mark Twain in the United States, and that "there is hardly an Albanian household without a Kadare book". He was the husband of author Helena Kadare and the father of United Nations Ambassador and UN General Assembly Vice-president Besiana Kadare. In 2023 he was granted citizenship of Kosovo, by president Vjosa Osmani.

2. Naim Frashëri (1846 - 1900)

With an HPI of 64.31, Naim Frashëri is the 2nd most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 41 different languages.

Naim bey Frashëri, more commonly Naim Frashëri (; pronounced [naˈim fɾaˈʃəˈɾi]; 25 May 1846 – 20 October 1900), was an Albanian historian, journalist, poet, rilindas and translator who was proclaimed as the national poet of Albania. He is regarded as a pioneer of modern Albanian literature and one of the most influential Albanian cultural icons of the 19th century. Frashëri's works explored themes such as freedom, humanity, unity, tolerance and revolution. His twenty two works consist of fifteen works written in Albanian as well as four in Turkish, two in Greek and one in Persian. He is considered to be the most representative writer of Sufi poetry in Albanian, and having been under the influence of his uncle Dalip Frashëri, he tried to mingle Sufism with Western philosophy in his poetical ideals. He had an extraordinarily profound impact on Albanian literature and society during the 20th century, most notably on Asdreni, Gjergj Fishta and Lasgush Poradeci, among many others. Ti Shqipëri, më jep nder, më jep emrin Shqipëtar ("You Albania, you give me honor, you give me the name Albanian"), a memorable line in his poem O malet e Shqipërisë, has been designated as the national motto of Albania. It speaks to unity, freedom and it embodies in its words a sense of pride towards the country and people.

3. Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani (1914 - 1999)

With an HPI of 63.88, Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani is the 3rd most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Muhammad Nasir al-Din (1914 – 2 October 1999) known by his nisba al-Albani (the Albanian), was an Albanian Islamic scholar known for being a leading hadith scholar in the 20th-century. A major figure of the Salafi methodology of Islam, he established his reputation in Syria, where his family had moved and where he was educated as a child. Al-Albani did not advocate violence, preferring obedience to established governments. A watchmaker by trade, Al-Albani was active as a writer, publishing chiefly on hadith and its sciences. He also lectured widely in the Middle East, Spain and the United Kingdom on the Salafi movement.

4. Sami Frashëri (1850 - 1904)

With an HPI of 60.79, Sami Frashëri is the 4th most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Sami bey Frashëri (Turkish: Şemseddin Sami Bey; June 1, 1850 – June 18, 1904) or Şemseddin Sâmi was an Ottoman Albanian writer, lexicographer, philosopher, playwright and a prominent figure of the Rilindja Kombëtare, the National Renaissance movement of Albania, together with his two brothers Abdyl and Naim. He also supported Turkish nationalism against its Ottoman counterpart, along with secularism (anti-clericalism or laicism) against theocracy. Frashëri was one of the sons of an impoverished Bey from Frashër (Fraşer during the Ottoman rule) in the District of Përmet. He gained a place in Ottoman literature as a talented author under the name of Şemseddin Sami Efendi and contributed to the Ottoman Turkish language reforms. Frashëri's message, however as declared in his book "Albania - What it was, what it is, and what will become of it" published in 1899, became the manifesto of the Rilindja Kombëtare. He discussed the prospects for a united, free and independent republic of Albania. In this way, beginning with a demand for autonomy and struggle for their own alphabet and education, Frashëri helped the Albanian National Movement develop its claim for independence. His lifetime goal, as that of many other members of the Albanian renaissance was the development and improvement of Albania's culture and eventual establishment of an independent country.

5. Dritëro Agolli (1931 - 2017)

With an HPI of 54.08, Dritëro Agolli is the 5th most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Dritëro Agolli (13 October 1931 – 3 February 2017) was an Albanian poet, writer and politician. He studied in Leningrad in the Soviet Union, and wrote primarily poetry, but also short stories, essays, plays, and novels. He was head of the League of Writers and Artists of Albania from 1973 until 1992. He was a leading figure in the Albanian Communist nomenklatura.

6. Aleksandër Stavre Drenova (1872 - 1947)

With an HPI of 53.47, Aleksandër Stavre Drenova is the 6th most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Aleksandër Stavre Drenova (pronounced [alɛkˈsandəɾ staˈvɾɛ dɾɛˈnova]; 11 April 1872 – 11 December 1947), commonly known by the pen name Asdreni, was an Albanian poet, rilindas, translator, writer and the author of the poem which later became the national anthem of Albania. He is regarded as one of the most influential Albanian writers of the 20th century and composed most of his Albanian Renaissance-inspired known works during that period. Born in the village of Drenovë, Asdreni completed his academic studies at the University of Bucharest in Romania where he enthusiastically committed himself to the Independence of Albania from the Ottoman Empire. He maintained close liaison with fellow Gjergj Fishta and Lasgush Poradeci and was notably inspired by the patriots Girolamo de Rada and Naim Frashëri. Rreze dielli, a collection of 99 poems, was his first prominent work which he dedicated to the national hero of Albania Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. Devoted to Edith Durham a friend of Albania, his second collection of again 99 poems, Ëndrra e lotë, displayed a wider range of themes and motifs as well as his more astonishing maturity. On the 30th of June 2021 the new 10000 Lekë banknote was issued by the Bank of Albania with the main portrait being that of Asdreni.

7. Millosh Gjergj Nikolla (1911 - 1938)

With an HPI of 49.31, Millosh Gjergj Nikolla is the 7th most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Millosh Gjergj Nikolla (Albanian pronunciation: [miˈɫoʃ ɟɛˈrɟ niˈkoɫa]; 13 October 1911 – 26 August 1938), commonly known by the acronym pen name Migjeni, was an Albanian poet and writer, considered one of the most important of the 20th century. After his death, he was recognized as one of the main influential writers of interwar Albanian literature. Migjeni is considered to have shifted from revolutionary romanticism to critical realism during his lifetime. He wrote about the poverty of the years he lived in, with writings such as "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread", "The Killing Beauty", "Forbidden Apple", "The Corn Legend", "Would You Like Some Charcoal?" etc., severely conveyed the indifference of the wealthy classes to the suffering of the people. The proliferation of his creativity gained a special momentum after World War II, when the communist regime took over the full publication of works, which in the 1930s had been partially unpublished.

8. Kostandin Kristoforidhi (1827 - 1895)

With an HPI of 49.14, Kostandin Kristoforidhi is the 8th most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Kostandin Nelko (22 May 1827 – 7 March 1895), known as Kostandin Kristoforidhi, was an Albanian translator and scholar. He is mostly known for having translated the New Testament into Albanian for the first time in the Gheg Albanian dialect in 1872. He also provided a translation in Tosk Albanian in 1879 thereby improving the 1823 tosk version of Vangjel Meksi. By providing translation in both dialects, he has the merit of founding the basis of the unification of both dialects into a national language.

9. Pashko Vasa (1825 - 1892)

With an HPI of 48.00, Pashko Vasa is the 9th most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Pashko Vasa (17 September 1825 – 29 June 1892), known as Vaso Pasha or Wassa Pasha (Arabic: واصه باشا, Albanian: Vaso pashë Shkodrani), was an Albanian writer, poet and publicist of the Albanian National Awakening, and Ottoman mutasarrif of Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate from 1882 until his death.

10. Fatos Kongoli (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 46.80, Fatos Kongoli is the 10th most famous Albanian Writer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Fatos Kongoli (born January 12, 1944) is an Albanian novelist.

People

Pantheon has 16 people classified as Albanian writers born between 1825 and 1968. Of these 16, 4 (25.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Albanian writers include Fatos Kongoli, Ornela Vorpsi, and Gjekë Marinaj. The most famous deceased Albanian writers include Ismail Kadare, Naim Frashëri, and Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani. As of April 2024, 4 new Albanian writers have been added to Pantheon including Fatos Arapi, Shaqe Çoba, and Ornela Vorpsi.