Hanxhari, Mihal (1930–1999) Works   en fr hu alb

Biography

Mihal Hanxhari (1930-1999) was born in Kentucky in the United States where his father had emigrated in 1907. In 1931, the family returned to Albania and settled in Tirana. Mihal began writing and publishing short stories at secondary school. He studied history and geography in Budapest and, after graduation in 1954, returned to Albania to teach secondary school in Korça and Tirana. In 1960, he was appointed director of the Library of the University of Tirana, a job which gave him rare access to the world of literature and literary culture. He was fired from this job for political reasons in 1975, being denounced as a liberal and a spreader of bourgeois culture, and was transferred to a modest post at a local library branch where he worked in 1990. In 1993-1995, he taught Albanian at the Ecole des Langues Orientales in Paris and died on 3 June 1999.

(Editor of this page: P. T.)