Ismail Kadare was Albania's grand man of letters. He died in 2024. Over the course of his long career he wrote at least 80 novels, plays, essays and story collections, dominating the foreign-language section of the bookshop in Tirana's central square by sheer volume of output. Mr Kadare has since been eclipsed internationally by Lea Ypi as the world's best-known Albanian writer.
"I changed my headlights the other day. I put in strobe lights instead! Now when I drive at night, it looks like everyone else is standing still ..."