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The Most Famous

WRITERS from Albania

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This page contains a list of the greatest Albanian Writers. The pantheon dataset contains 5,755 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 8

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the 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.

Photo of Ismail Kadare

1. Ismail Kadare (1936 - )

With an HPI of 66.07, Ismail Kadare is the most famous Albanian Writer.  His biography has been translated into 63 different languages on wikipedia.

Ismail Kadare (Albanian pronunciation: [ismaˈil kadaˈɾe]; spelt Ismaïl Kadaré in French; born 28 January 1936) is an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright. He is 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.In 1992, Kadare 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. In 1996, France made him a foreign associate of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques of France, and in 2016, he was a Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur recipient. He has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 15 times. Since the 1990s, Kadare has been asked by both major political parties in Albania to become a consensual President of Albania, but has declined. 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. Living in Albania during a time of strict censorship, Kadare devised cunning 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. 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." 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. He is the husband of author Helena Kadare, and the father of United Nations Ambassador, and UN General Assembly Vice President, Besiana Kadare.

Photo of Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani

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

With an HPI of 62.22, Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani is the 2nd most famous Albanian Writer.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Muhammad Nasir al-Din (1914 – 2 October 1999), known by his nisba al-Albani, was an Albanian Islamic scholar known for being a famous muhaddith. 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 Salafist movement.

Photo of Sami Frashëri

3. Sami Frashëri (1850 - 1904)

With an HPI of 59.83, Sami Frashëri is the 3rd most famous Albanian Writer.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Sami bey Frashëri (Turkish: Şemseddin Sami Bey; June 1, 1850 – June 18, 1904) or Şemseddin Sâmi was an Ottoman Albanian writer, 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.

Photo of Aleksandër Stavre Drenova

4. Aleksandër Stavre Drenova (1872 - 1947)

With an HPI of 52.69, Aleksandër Stavre Drenova is the 4th 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.

Photo of Dritëro Agolli

5. Dritëro Agolli (1931 - 2017)

With an HPI of 52.11, 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.

Photo of Millosh Gjergj Nikolla

6. Millosh Gjergj Nikolla (1911 - 1938)

With an HPI of 50.09, Millosh Gjergj Nikolla is the 6th 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.

Photo of Pashko Vasa

7. Pashko Vasa (1825 - 1892)

With an HPI of 47.71, Pashko Vasa is the 7th most famous Albanian Writer.  His biography has been translated into 16 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.

Photo of Ndre Mjeda

8. Ndre Mjeda (1866 - 1937)

With an HPI of 46.75, Ndre Mjeda is the 8th most famous Albanian Writer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Ndre Mjeda (20 November 1866 – 1 August 1937) was an Albanian philologist, poet, priest, rilindas, translator and writer of the Albanian Renaissance. He was a member of the Mjeda family.He was influenced by the Jesuit writer Anton Xanoni and the Franciscan poet Leonardo De Martino.

Pantheon has 8 people classified as writers born between 1825 and 1936. Of these 8, 1 (12.50%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living writers include Ismail Kadare. The most famous deceased writers include Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, Sami Frashëri, and Aleksandër Stavre Drenova. As of April 2022, 2 new writers have been added to Pantheon including Pashko Vasa and Ndre Mjeda.

Living Writers

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Deceased Writers

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Newly Added Writers (2022)

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Which Writers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 6 most globally memorable Writers since 1700.