Bilal Xhaferi

Bilal Xhaferi was born on 10 May or 2 November 1935 in Ninat, Konispol to a Cham Albanian family. His father was Xhaferr Hoxha, nephew of Hasan Tahsini. His mother died when he was 8 years of age and when he was 10 the communist regime executed his father, at the end of World War II, due to his support and sympathy for Balli Kombëtar. He grew up with an orphan with his three sisters by his paternal grandfather, Ferik Hoxha. He finished his elementary and secondary education in his hometown and on 1948 he left towards Sarandë as a mail courier, after his grandfather was declared kulak and was expropriated by the authorities. He published his first pieces of poetry and short stories in various journals in 1962-1963. During his youth he did several random jobs while showing a passion for poetry. His first book publication were "Rrugë dhe fate", (English: Roads and fates), and "Njerëz të rinj, tokë e lashtë", (English: Young people, ancient land), published in 1963 and 1967. A novel, Krastakraus, was written in 1967 but only published posthumously in 1993. His position would decline fast after a debate with Ismail Kadare, about the latter's novel "Dasma" (The wedding). His family biography would pop up in the eyes of the communist censorship, and since then he would be a target. On May 6, 1995, the Albanian government, in cooperation with the Bilal Xhaferri Cultural Association, made possible to rebury him in Saranda. == Controversy ==

According to some critics and members of the Albanian League of Writers and Artists back in the time, Xhaferi was not a real dissident, he was dedicating part of his work to glorifying the communist regime in Albania, he was the one accusing Kadare that his novel "Dasma" was denigrating the socialist reality, he escaped to Greece quite easily and therefore he was much probably a Sigurimi agent himself, and that his work is being overvalued. Ardian Ndoca, would raise questions about his relationship with Sigurimi, and the real size of his work and contribution to Albanian literature. In his article "False expectations in literature" (), published on "Drini" magazine on 04/05/2013, he would state: ''What was ruining a little these mythifications, was that this young Cham writer, although his father was shot in 1945 as anti-communist, had arrived so far as to take part in meetings of the League of Writers and Artists of Albania, and had even published two volumes of poetry before his escape to Greece! ...Later, a large part of the creativity of Xhaferi came out to consist of novels and stories fragments, sometimes fragments of just a few pages, however, the "fragment" that really made him famous inside the "literary" environments of Tirana, was his criticism during a session of the League, on April 1968 to the novel "Dasma" of Kadare...There are some scholars and critics today, who want to convince us that Bilal Xhaferi, whose father getting shot did not prevent him from publishing two volumes of poetry during communism, and was present in four over-controlled bodies of PPSh: "Zëri i Rinisë", "Drita", "Nëntori", and "Ylli", and did not even stop him from participating in the League's sessions, was somehow seriously ruined by the communist spirit criticism to the "Dasma" novel of Kadare!''. == Works ==

• "Rrugë dhe fate" (English: Roads and fates), (1963) • "Njerëz të rinj, tokë e lashtë" (English: Young People, Ancient Land) – summary of stories, (1966), OCLC: 40893965 • "Lirishta e kuqe" (English: The Red Glade) - novel, (1967) • "Dashuri e përgjakur" (English: Bloody Love) – romantic novel, (1992), OCLC: 475228763 • "Krastakraus" - novel, (1967), (Published post mortem 1993), OCLC: 35559442 • "Eja trishtim" (English: Sadness, come) - poetry, (1995) • "Ra Berati" (English: Berat surrendered) - novel, (1995), • "Përtej largësive", (English: Beyond distance) – prose and articles (1996), == Bibliography ==