Helena Kadare

{{Short description|Albanian writer and translator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Helena Kadare | image = | caption = | birth_name = Helena Gushi | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1943|9|21}} | birth_place = Fier, Albanian Kingdom | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Writer | nationality = Albanian | period = | movement = Postmodern literature | spouse = Ismail Kadare | children = 2, including Besiana | notableworks = ''Një lindje e vështirë'' | awards = Autorja e Vitit 2011 (Author of the Year in Albania)<ref>[http://www.sot.com.al/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10865 Shpërndahen çmimet në Panairin e Librit, Helena Kadare “Autorja e Vitit”], ''Gazeta Sot'', 12 November 2011</ref> | influences = | website = }} '''Helena "Elena" Kadare''' ({{nee|'''Gushi'''}}; born 21 September 1943) is an Albanian screenwriter, translator and author of short stories and novels.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://libri.albanianews.it/autori/helena-kadare/|title=Helena Kadare, biografia e libri censiti in Albania Letteraria|website=Albanian News|access-date=2025-04-04}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.viennale.at/en/guest/elena-kadare|title=Elena Kadare | Viennale|website=viennale.at|access-date=2025-04-04}}</ref> One of the latter, 1970's ''Një lindje e vështirë'', is the first novel by a woman to have been published in Albanian.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.albanianliterature.net/authors/modern/kadare-h/index.html|title=Helena KADARE|website=Albanian Literature|access-date=2025-04-04}}</ref> ''A Woman from Tirana'' (1990) is the novel of Kadare's that is perhaps her most widely read.

==Biography== Helena Gushi was born on 21 September 1943 in Fier, in southern Albania.<ref name="auto1"/> She studied literature at the University of Tirana,<ref name="auto1"/> and then worked in journalism and as an editor in the publishing industry.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto"/> In 1963, she married writer Ismail Kadare, and the couple had two children, Gresa and Besiana.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Helena and Ismail Kadare, how did their love story begin 61 years ago and what was the most difficult moment they experienced together? |url=https://www.voxnews.al/english/aktualitet/helena-dhe-ismail-kadare-si-nisi-para-61-vitesh-historia-e-tyre-e-das-i69194 |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Vox News}}</ref> Kadare moved to Paris, France, with her husband 1990,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.albanianliterature.net/authors/modern/kadare-h/index.html |title=Helena KADARE |access-date=2016-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923220946/http://www.albanianliterature.net/authors/modern/kadare-h/index.html |archive-date=2016-09-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> as her husband had been critical of the Albanian government and needed to receive political asylum there.<ref name=":ElsieLiterature">{{Cite book |last=Elsie |first=Robert |url=http://www.elsie.de/pdf/articles/A2005AlbWritingEnglTrans.pdf |title=Modern Albanian Literature and its reception in the english-speaking world (lecture) |year=2005 |access-date=29 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222003908/http://www.elsie.de/pdf/articles/A2005AlbWritingEnglTrans.pdf |archive-date=22 December 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> The couple returned to Albania in 2021.<ref name=":0" /> Ismail died on 1 July 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-08-17 |title=Helena talks about the late Ismail Kadare: "I still don't understand that he is no more" |url=https://www.anabelmagazine.com/news/77834/bashkeshortja-flet-per-te-ndjerin-ismail-kadare-akoma-nuk-e-kuptoj-qe-nuk-eshte-me/eng |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.anabelmagazine.com}}</ref>

Their daughter, Besiana Kadare, is the Albanian Ambassador to the United Nations, a Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly for its 75th session, and Albania's Ambassador to Cuba.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/bio4855.doc.htm|title=New Permanent Representative of Albania Presents Credentials|website=un.org|access-date=2025-04-04}}</ref>

== Works == Kadare has written numerous short stories, as well as translations of other works.<ref name="auto1" /> She has the distinction of being the first woman to have a full length novel published in Albanian: ''Një lindje e vështirë'', issued in Tirana in 1970 (''A Difficult Birth'').<ref name="auto1" /> Her novel ''Një grua nga Tirana'', issued in Tirana in 1994. has been translated into French (''Une femme de Tirana'', 1995), Dutch (''Een vrouw uit Tirana'', 1996) and German (''Eine Frau aus Tirana'', 2009), as well as into English (''A woman from Tirana'').<ref name="auto1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Helena Kadare | Traduki |url=https://traduki.eu/database-en/6465/helena-kadare-2/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428072423/https://traduki.eu/database-en/6465/helena-kadare-2/ |archive-date=2021-04-28 |website=traduki.eu}}</ref> * ''Një lindje e vështirë'' (''A Difficult Birth''), novel, 1970 * ''Një grua nga Tirana'' (''A Woman from Tirana''), novel, 1990 {{ISBN|99927-45-13-4}} * ''Bashkëshortët'' (''Spouses''), novel, 2002 {{ISBN|99927-45-77-0}} * ''Le temps qui manque mémoires'', 2010 * ''Kohë e pamjaftueshme'' (''Insufficient Time''), novel, 2011 {{ISBN|978-99956-87-51-9}} * ''Një grua në Berlin: Ditar 20 prill - 22 Qershor 1945'' (''A Woman in Berlin - Anonymous (Diary April 20 - June 22, 1945''), 2016

==See also== *Albanian literature

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Kadare, Helena. ''Kohë e pamjaftueshme'', Tirana: Onufri, 2011. {{ISBN|978-9995687519}} (Also available in French)

== External links == *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120118170056/http://www.albanianliterature.net/authors_modern1/kadare-h.html Biography], by Robert Elsie * [http://www.bksh.al/adlib/scripts/wwwopac.exe?&DATABASE=catalo&OPAC_URL=/adlib/expert/index_al.html&LANGUAGE=1&lp=Kadare,+Helena&LIMIT=50 National Library of Albania] * [http://www.bksh.al/adlib/scripts/wwwopac.exe?&DATABASE=books&OPAC_URL=/adlib/expert/index_al.html&LANGUAGE=1&l1=Kadare,+Helena&LIMIT=50 Works of Helena Kadare]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kadare, Helena}} Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:People from Fier Category:21st-century Albanian writers Category:Albanian-language writers Category:Albanian women novelists Category:Postmodern writers Category:Socialist realism writers Category:20th-century Albanian novelists Category:Albanian expatriates in France Category:20th-century Albanian women writers Category:21st-century Albanian women writers