Ledia Dushi

Ledia Dushi (born 1978) is an Albanian writer and academic. She is known for her poetry in the Gheg Albanian dialect, unusual in a country where published writing is almost exclusively in Tosk Albanian.

Early life and education Ledia Dushi was born in 1978 in Shkodër, a city in northern Albania. She studied Albanian language and literature, obtaining a doctoral degree in ethnology and folklore from the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Art Studies at the Academy of Albanological Studies.

Career Dushi previously worked as a journalist, as well as in municipal government in Shkodër, where she focused on cultural issues. Early in her career, she was criticized for publishing in Gheg, accused of wanting to divide the Albanian nation.

Her first book of poetry, Ave Maria bahet lot, was published in 1997. The following year, it was awarded the Albanian Ministry of Culture's prize for best debut book. A collection of her poetry translated into English was published in 2019 under the title Rain in the Dark.

Selected works

Ave Maria bahet lot (Ave Maria Turns to Tears), 1997 Seancë dimnash (Session of Winters), 1999 Askush nuk vdes për mue (No One Dies for Me), 2003 Me mujt me fjet me kthimin e shpendve (If I Could Sleep With the Bird's Return), 2009 N`nji fije t`thellë gjaku (In a Deep Thread of Blood), 2019 Femna s`asht njeri (Woman Is Not Human), 2020