Ismail Kadare is an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist and playwright. He has been a leading literary figure in Albania since the 1960s. He focused on poetry until the publication of his first novel, The General of the Dead Army, which made him famous inside and outside of Albania. In 1996, he became a lifetime member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques of France.
In 1992, he was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca; in 2005, he won the inaugural Man Booker International Prize; in 2009, the Prince of Asturias Award of Arts; in 2015, the Jerusalem Prize, and in 2016, he was a Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur recipient. He has divided his time between Albania and France since 1990. Kadare has been mentioned as a possible recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. His works have been published in about 45 languages.
Kadare is regarded by some as one of the greatest European writers and intellectuals of the 20th century, and in addition, as a universal voice against totalitarianism.
“It was only a phrase that went from mouth to mouth and was never quite swallowed.”
Source: Broken April
Ismail Kadare, Chronicle in Stone
