{{Short description|Albanian professor of political theory (born 1979)}} {{use dmy|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox academic | image = Lea Ypi at the British Library.jpg | caption = Ypi in a video from the British Library in 2022 | discipline = Western philosophy | era = Contemporary philosophy | name = Lea Ypi | birth_date = {{birth date and age text|8 September 1979}} | birth_place = Tirana, Albania | school_tradition = Continental philosophy <br /> Critical theory | main_interests = Political theory, Enlightenment, Marxism, Nationalism | notable_ideas = | thesis_year = 2008 | thesis_title = Statist cosmopolitanism | thesis_url = https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/10458/Ypi_2008.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y | doctoral_advisors = Peter Wagner | workplaces = {{ublist| London School of Economics | Nuffield College, Oxford}} | education = {{ublist| Sapienza University of Rome (laurea) | European University Institute (PhD)}} | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA|size=100%}} | website = {{URL|leaypi.com}} }}
'''Lea Leman Ypi''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA}} (born 8 September 1979)<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Me |url=https://personal.lse.ac.uk/YPI/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511142053/https://personal.lse.ac.uk/YPI/ |archive-date=2013-05-11}}</ref> is an Albanian academic and author. She is the Ralph Miliband Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the London School of Economics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/people/lea-ypi|title=Professor Lea Ypi|website=The London School of Economics and Political Science}}</ref>
==Background and early life == Ypi was born in Tirana, Albania, the eldest child of Xhaferr Ypi and Vjollca Veli, who were relatively regular citizens under communist rule, but who later became involved in Albanian democratic politics in Ypi's late childhood prior to the 1997 Albanian civil unrest.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harding |first1=Luke |title=Free by Lea Ypi review – a riveting portrait of growing up in communist Albania |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/25/free-by-lea-ypi-review-a-riveting-portrait-of-growing-up-in-communist-albania |access-date=27 August 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=25 Oct 2021}}</ref> She grew up in both communist and post-communist Albania, the experience of this transition being the main topic of her book ''Free: Coming of Age at the End of History'' (2021). Her historically Muslim family was compelled to be atheist under communist rule (Ypi says she is now agnostic).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kellaway |first=Kate |date=4 June 2022 |title=Interview - Lea Ypi: 'Hope is a moral duty' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/04/lea-ypi-hope-is-a-moral-duty-free-coming-of-age-at-the-end-of-history |website=The Guardian}}</ref> One of her paternal great-grandfathers, Xhafer Ypi, was briefly Prime Minister of Albania in the 1920s, and also very briefly headed the Albanian government at the beginning of the Italian occupation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-28 |title=Free by Lea Ypi review – a memoir of life amid the collapse of communism |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/28/free-by-lea-ypi-review-a-memoir-of-life-amid-the-collapse-of-communism|first=Stuart |last=Jeffries |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> His son, Ypi's grandfather, was imprisoned by Albania's communist government for 15 years.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Weaver |first=Matthew |date=3 January 2022 |title=Author says memoir of communist Albania met with 'vicious' abuse |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/03/author-memoir-communist-albania-met-vicious-abuse-lea-ypi |access-date=3 January 2022}}</ref>
==Education==
Ypi earned a degree in philosophy at the Sapienza University of Rome in 2002<ref name="CV">{{Cite web|url=https://personal.lse.ac.uk/YPI/CV%20complete.doc|title=CV|access-date=2021-11-01|archive-date=2017-09-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914194825/http://personal.lse.ac.uk/YPI/CV%20complete.doc|url-status=dead}}</ref> and a degree in literature from the same institution in 2004.<ref name="CV" /> She received her Master of Research from the European University Institute in 2005 and her PhD in political theory from the European University Institute in 2008, with a thesis on ''Statist cosmopolitanism'' under the supervision of Peter Wagner.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-30 |title=Statist cosmopolitanism |url=https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/10458?show=full |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=European University Institute |language=en-GB }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-30 |title=Lea Ypi |url=https://leaypi.com/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |language=en-GB }}</ref> Prior to joining the London School of Economics she was a post-doctoral prize research fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.
== Works == Ypi's research interests are in normative political theory (including democratic theory, theories of justice, and issues of migration and territorial rights), Enlightenment political thought (especially Kant), Marxism and critical theory, as well as the intellectual history of the Balkans, especially her native Albania.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lea Ypi |url=https://personal.lse.ac.uk/YPI/ |access-date=2022-03-22 |website=LSE Personal Web |archive-date=2013-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511142053/https://personal.lse.ac.uk/YPI/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Her 2021 book ''Free: Coming of Age at the End of History''<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-0-241-48185-1 | oclc=1263810396 |title=Free: Coming of Age at the End of History |last1=Ypi |first1=Lea |year=2021 |publisher=Allen Lane }}</ref><ref name=youtube-20211104>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ub_Nb772VA |title=Free: coming of age at the end of history |interviewer-last=Kaldor |interviewer-first=Mary |last=Ypi |first=Lea |publisher=YouTube |work=LSE Online Event |date=4 November 2021 |access-date=4 February 2022}}</ref> was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shortlist announced for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction {{!}} The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction |url=https://thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/news/shortlist-announced-2021-baillie-gifford-prize-non-fiction |access-date=2022-03-22 |website=thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk}}</ref> and the Costa Book Award for Biography.<ref>https://www.costa.co.uk/behind-the-beans/costa-book-awards/book-awards</ref> It won the Ondaatje Prize,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-20 |title=RSL Ondaatje Prize 2022 Shortlist Announced |url=https://rsliterature.org/2022/04/rsl-ondaatje-prize-2022-shortlist-announced/ |access-date=2022-04-20 |website=Royal Society of Literature |language=en-GB |archive-date=2022-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420080755/https://rsliterature.org/2022/04/rsl-ondaatje-prize-2022-shortlist-announced/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> the ''Slightly Foxed'' First Biography Prize,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Best First Biography Prize Archives |url=https://foxedquarterly.com/category/best-first-biography-prize/ |access-date=2022-04-20 |website=Slightly Foxed |language=en-GB}}</ref> and was listed by ''The Sunday Times'' as one of their twelve "exceptional memoirs" published in the last 30 years.<ref> {{cite web | last=Hackett | first=Laura | title=Free by Lea Ypi review — growing up in Enver Hoxha's communist Albania | newspaper=The Sunday Times | date=21 October 2021 | url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/free-by-lea-ypi-review-growing-up-in-enver-hoxhas-communist-albania-fnsmnvzxb | access-date=10 January 2026 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250820-183846/https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/free-by-lea-ypi-review-growing-up-in-enver-hoxhas-communist-albania-fnsmnvzxb |archive-date=20 August 2025|url-status=live |url-access=subscription|language=en-GB|location=London|publisher=The Times Media Ltd|issn=0140-0460}} </ref><ref> {{cite web | last=Goldsbrough | first=Susie | title=12 exceptional memoirs from the past 30 years | newspaper=The Sunday Times | date=15 December 2023 | url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/12-exceptional-memoirs-from-the-past-30-years-ft8mdkshr | access-date=10 January 2026 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240811-122937/https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/12-exceptional-memoirs-from-the-past-30-years-ft8mdkshr |archive-date=11 August 2024|url-status=live |url-access=subscription|language=en-GB|location=London|publisher=The Times Media Ltd|issn=0140-0460}} </ref> In 2022, BBC Radio 4 serialised the book in their ''Book of the Week'' series.<ref name=bbcr4-20220131>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013zjs |title=Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |series=Book of the Week |date=31 January 2022 |access-date=4 February 2022}}</ref>
Ypi's 2025 book ''Indignity''<ref>{{cite book | last=Ypi | first=Lea | title=Indignity: a life reimagined | publisher=Allen Lane | publication-place=London | year=2025 | isbn=978-0-241-78537-9 | oclc=1501531341|language=en-GB }}</ref> is another family history which explores the concept of dignity from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, to the arrival of Communism in the Balkans, through the life of Ypi's grandmother. It was published by Penguin Press in the UK and Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the USA. It received reviews by The Observer,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boyd |first=William |title=Love, war and life on the edge of history |url=https://observer.co.uk/culture/books/article/love-war-and-life-on-the-edge-of-history |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=The Observer |language=en}}</ref> The Economist,<ref>{{Cite news |title=A story of occupations, surveillance and exile in Albania |url=https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/08/28/a-story-of-occupations-surveillance-and-exile-in-albania |access-date=2025-12-07 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref> The New York Times,<ref name="r540">{{cite web |last=Graver |first=Elizabeth |date=2025-10-31 |title=Book Review: 'Indignity,' by Lea Ypi |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/books/review/lea-ypi-indignity.html |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> The Washington Post,<ref name="v842">{{cite web |last=Rothfeld |first=Becca |date=2025-10-31 |title=She found an old photo, then reimagined her grandmother's life |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/10/31/indignity-lea-ypi-review/ |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=The Washington Post}}</ref> Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-09-15 |title=Philosophin Lea Ypi: „Moralischer Fortschritt ist eine praktische Notwendigkeit“ |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/sachbuch/philosophin-lea-ypi-moralischer-fortschritt-ist-eine-praktische-notwendigkeit-accg-110681874.html |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=FAZ.NET |language=de}}</ref> and The Christian Science Monitor.<ref> {{cite web | last=Spindel|first=Barbara | title=Civil servant or fascist spy? Hunting for the truth about her Albanian grandmother| publication-date=12 January 2025 | url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2025/1219/lea-ypi-indignity-20th-century-albanian-history |language=en-US|location=Boston|page=32-33|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|publisher=The Christian Science Publishing Society|issn=0882-7729 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251231145146/https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2025/1219/lea-ypi-indignity-20th-century-albanian-history |archive-date=31 December 2025|url-status=live| access-date=10 January 2026}} </ref> It was a book of the year for the Sunday Times,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Times and Sunday Times: Books of the Year 2025 |url=https://timesbookshop.co.uk/the-times-and-sunday-times-books-of-the-year/ |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=timesbookshop.co.uk}}</ref> The Washington Post<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-11-20 |title=50 notable works of nonfiction from 2025 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/11/20/best-nonfiction-year/ |access-date=2025-12-07 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> and NPR,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books We Love |url=https://apps.npr.org/best-books/ |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=NPR |language=en-US}}</ref> and became a bestseller in a number of European countries.<ref name="i509">{{cite web |last=Ypi |first=Lea |date=2025-09-17 |title=Aufrecht. Buch von Lea Ypi (Suhrkamp Verlag)|trans-title=Indignity. Book from Lea Ypi (Suhrkamp Verlag)|url=https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/lea-ypi-aufrecht-t-9783518432624 |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=Suhrkamp Verlag |language=de}}</ref> In 2026, it was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Loffhagen |first=Emma |date=2026-02-11 |title=Arundhati Roy and Sarah Perry longlisted for Women’s prize for nonfiction |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/feb/11/arundhati-roy-sarah-perry-longlisted-for-womens-prize-for-nonfiction |access-date=2026-02-18 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
Her work appeared in Boston Review.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lea Ypi |url=https://www.bostonreview.net/authors/lea-ypi/ |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=Boston Review |language=en}}</ref>
== Awards and honours == In 2022, Ypi was named one of the world's top ten thinkers by the British magazine ''Prospect''<ref>{{Cite web |title=World's Top Thinkers 2022: the results |url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/60065/worlds-top-thinkers-2022-the-results |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Prospect}}</ref> and one of the most important cultural figures by the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Die Kulturpersonen 2022 |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/wichtigste-kulturpersonen-des-jahres-2022-18504704.html |website=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |date=28 December 2022 |language=de}}</ref> She was named one of the six most important thinkers of 2023 by ''El País''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ideas |date=2023-12-31 |title=Seis pensadores que marcaron el año 2023 |url=https://elpais.com/ideas/2023-12-31/seis-pensadores-que-marcaron-el-ano-2023.html |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=El País |language=es}}</ref> Her work has been translated in more than 35 languages and won numerous prizes, including the British Academy "Brian Barry" Prize for excellence in Political Science and a Leverhulme Prize for outstanding research achievements. She was elected to the Academia Europaea in 2020<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Ypi_Lea|title=Academy of Europe: Ypi Lea|website=www.ae-info.org}}</ref> and is a member of the jury of the Deutscher Memorial Prize.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.deutscherprize.org.uk/wp/|title=The Deutscher Memorial Prize|website=The Deutscher Memorial Prize}}</ref>
Ypi was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-18 |title=The British Academy welcomes 86 new Fellows in 2024 |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/the-british-academy-welcomes-86-new-fellows-in-2024/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=The British Academy}}</ref>
==Selected bibliography==
* ''The Meaning of Partisanship'' (with Jonathan White), Oxford University Press, 2016.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-meaning-of-partisanship-9780199684175?cc=be&lang=en&|title = The Meaning of Partisanship|date = 6 October 2016|publisher = Oxford University Press|isbn = 978-0-19-968417-5}}</ref> * ''Global Justice and Avant-Garde Political Agency'', Oxford University Press, 2012.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/global-justice-and-avant-garde-political-agency-9780198798668|title = Global Justice and Avant-Garde Political Agency|date = 31 March 2017|publisher = Oxford University Press|isbn = 978-0-19-879866-8}}</ref> * ''Kant and Colonialism: Historical and Critical Perspectives'' (co-edited with Katrin Flikschuh), Oxford University Press, 2014.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/kant-and-colonialism-9780199669622|title = Kant and Colonialism: Historical and Critical Perspectives|date = 20 January 2015|publisher = Oxford University Press|isbn = 978-0-19-966962-2}}</ref> * ''Migration in Political Theory: The Ethics of Movement and Membership'' (co-edited with Sarah Fine), Oxford University Press, 2016.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/migration-in-political-theory-9780198843085|title = Migration in Political Theory|date = 9 July 2019|publisher = Oxford University Press|isbn = 978-0-19-884308-5}}</ref> * ''Free: Coming of Age at the End of History'', Penguin, 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lea Ypi |url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/146007/lea-ypi |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=www.penguin.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> * ''The Architectonic of Reason: Purposiveness and Systematic Unity in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason'', Oxford University Press, 2021. * ''Indignity: A Life Reimagined'', Penguin Books, 2025.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-10-31 |title=Review {{!}} She found an old photo, then reimagined her grandmother's life |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/10/31/indignity-lea-ypi-review/ |access-date=2025-11-02 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref name="r540"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.lse.ac.uk/government/people/academic-staff/lea-ypi Lea Ypi page], LSE Department of Government *[https://leaypi.com/ Lea Ypi] personal webpage *[https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lea-ypi Lea Ypi page], ''The Guardian'' *[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/09/spies-lies-and-doublethink-lea-ypi-on-growing-up-in-europes-last-communist-state Interview in ], ''The Guardian'' *[https://www.newstatesman.com/encounter/2021/11/lea-ypi-the-freedom-that-liberalism-brought-was-only-for-some-people Interview ], ''New Statesman'' *[https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/87564-making-sense-of-freedom-pw-talks-with-lea-ypi.html Interview ], ''Publishers Weekly'' <!-- categories go here -->
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ypi, Lea}} Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Academics of the London School of Economics Category:Albanian academics Category:21st-century Albanian philosophers Category:Albanian women philosophers Category:Sapienza University of Rome alumni Category:People from Tirana Category:21st-century Albanian women writers Lea Category:Critical theorists Category:Members of Academia Europaea Category:Fellows of the British Academy