During the visit, Çapaliku appreciated the significance of preserving and promoting archives, describing them as an extraordinary asset of the country’s historical and cultural memory.

Appreciating the role of the Albanian Telegraphic Agency, Çapaliku said that, “ATA represents an extraordinary source of information, not only verbal, but also visual on the history of Albania from the 1930s to the present-day”.

“ATA’s archival collection is a breathtaking, almost incomprehensible mountain of history”, he said.

Çapaliku also spoke about a joint initiative of ATA with the Center for the Study of Arts at the Academy of Sciences and the “Marubi” Museum.

“We have signed a cooperation agreement with ATA and the “Marubi” museum to compile an anthology of Albanian photography, for which work has begun and we hope that this cooperation is just the beginning of a work that will continue”, said Çapaliku.

Open since May 9, ATA’s exhibition “A journey in the history of news” has been visited so far by many local and foreign visitors, researchers, historians, personalities of art and culture, as well as former employees and journalists of this institution. /k.s/e.r/a.f/r.e/p.s./

Çapaliku’s work, translated from Albanian into German by Zuzana Finger, is part of the Traduki project, a project which, through books, translations and literary projects, connects Southeast Europe with the literature of German-speaking countries, as well as the literature of Southeast European countries between each other.

The presentation at the Leipzig Fair, one of the largest book fairs in the world, is an important event. Stefan Çapaliku’s book deals with Albania in the Second World War: First, the invasion by fascist Italy, a shock for the Albanians, because their relations with the neighboring country had been quite friendly for centuries. Then, in 1943: Italy takes side with the Allies; Italian soldiers flee or join the Albanian partisans. They fight against the German occupier as well as take part in hiding and rescuing Jews from the Germans.

Since 1994, the Leizig Fair has been awarding its participants. The Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding is one of the most prestigious literary awards in Germany. It is awarded annually with a value of 20,000 Euros./p.s./

The winners were picked among thousands of book titles, but five candidacies for each category were selected for the final phase by a jury lead by chair Mehmet Kraja.

The jury awarded the Best Novel of the Year prize to novelist Stefan Çapaliku and his novel “An Angel in Tailcoat”.

The best translation prize was awarded to Mira Meksi for Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s masterpiece “The Autumn of the Patriarch.”

The best Poetry Collection of the Year award was handed over to Olimbi Velaj for the book “The others happiness,” and the best Stories Collection of the Year prize was awarded to Behar Jacaj for his book “The Hotel next to the Church.”

The prize Best Literary Research Book of the Year went to Xhevat Lloshi for his book “Christofor’s Crossroads and the Adventure of the Albanian Literature.”

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