In a message shared on social media, Prime Minister Rama described the figure of Kadare as the greatest monument to Albanian culture that has already ascended to the pedestal of eternity.

Rama recalled the message written on the occasion of the birthday of the Albanian literature colossus.
“While writing this wish for him, it came to my mind how many people have taken time to write books, dissertations, master’s degrees, PhD, reports, articles, writings, biographies and scribbles, dithyrambs, evaluations and even criticism, for his books and about himself, and how unlikely it is that the lines of their letters will have a better fate than the sand castles that the children build by the sea, prefiguring the heroes of fairy tales and ballads or the villains of the yawns of threats heard before sleep.
And with this thought, I am leaving this note (which will have the same fate as those castles) with a simple thank you, without claiming anything more than the expression of deep gratitude to Ismail for the fantastic monument he has erected to the Albanian language, growing my love for this mysterious language, which we Albanians are lucky enough to speak and write as our mother tongue; for the extraordinary pleasure of traveling in the world of events, characters, emotions that he has brought to life with the ease of a magician, brought to light the power of an exorcist and stored with the precision of a Gjirokastra citizen; for the bitterness he has caused to the mediocre and for the great worry he has caused to those jealous of his resounding success in dozens of languages of this world, and definitely also for the never-ending debate between the barricades, where the admirers of the writer and the judge of the citizen or simply the man Ismail Kadare have lined up for 30 years- where I myself have learned and understood quite a bit over the years…
/sm/