 |
| Gazmend Kapllani while interviewed by Albanian media at Book Fair in Tirana, 2021 |
"Last Page" is the latest publication of writer and journalist Gazmend Kapllani, who came from America to visit the book fair in Tirana.
In an interview for Euronews Albania with journalist Anisa Krraba, he spoke about his book and Albanian literature in general, as well as the political situation in the country and in the region.
The story of Mr. Kapllani's book is based on a diary, which holds the truth of a family living in Albania, but their origin is much further away.
"The history of the book is a notebook found by the son written by the father. And in that notebook, his whole world is turned upside down. It is a Jewish family that fled Thessaloniki to escape the Holocaust in 1943," explains the author.
In fact, Kapllani's characters, in all his books, are the ones who give the truths about social phenomena, the repressions, the influences that regimes give to the lives and identities of people.
"They describe that painful and interesting phase of the transition from the totalitarian regime to a new phase where we had the most dramatic emigration. Many things in our lives are determined by where we are born, where we go, how we live, and the status we have", said Kapllani.
In Albania, the interest is not very great for the book in general, said Kapllani, adding that those who read are a minority.
"We need patience, we need help, we need policies from the state. EU countries have a very specific book policy; Even America, which is more liberal and more decentralized, has policies for the book," he said.
Gazmend Kapllani says that many Albanian families do not have books in their homes, because the price of books is high in the country.
"It seems to me that the book in Albania is expensive for the salaries that Albanians receive, despite the fact that people may not have it in their culture to have an advantage over the book," he said.
Asked about the political situation in Albania, journalist Kapllani said that "everything changes and nothing moves".
"It seems to me very tragic that our political culture has remained nailed in the first years of the '90s. It is tragic that in a country whose political culture was destroyed, we have not yet managed to create a pluralistic political culture with people deserving of public positions.
"We are the poorest, most corrupt, most feared country in Europe," he said.
He said that the political situation in Kosovo is very interesting and to be taken as an example. He said that Kosovo is experiencing a "political spring".
"What is happening (in Kosovo) to me is extremely interesting - the current Albanian government does not like it, unfortunately. As an Albanian, I am glad to see another Albanian state with civilized elections, which has a civilized political culture. I have a lot of criticism for the government, but there is a really serious policy for respecting the law and for meritocracy, which Albania has never had", said Kapllani.
Although with a smaller number of visitors due to the pandemic, Mr. Kapllani says that he likes the way the fair is organized and that he had the opportunity to meet other authors and his friends.
"I made new friends, I discovered new Albanian writers and I am fascinated with some of them.