Albanian writer frequently mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, a leading figure of Albanian cultural life from the 1960s. During the terror of the Hoxha regime, Kadaré attacked totalitarianism and the doctrines of socialist realism with subtle allegories, although as a committed Marxist he officially supported the liberation of Albania from its backward past.

Ismail Kadaré was born in the museum-city of Gjirokastra, in southern Albania. His father worked in the civil service. Kadare grew up during the years of World War II, witnessing the occupation of his home country by fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union. He attended primary and secondary schools in Gjirokastra, and went on to study languages and literature at the Faculty of History and Philology at the University of Tirana. In 1956 Kadaré received a teacher's diploma. He also studied at the Gorky Institute of World Literature in Moscow.

In 1961 Albania broke with the Soviet Union, and finally with all other countries, including China. From the cultural standstill arose a new generation of writers, among them Kadaré, Fatos Arapi, and Dritëro Agolli, who was for many years head of the Albanian Union of Writers, although his work was occasionally felt to be out of touch with the party line. In Albania Kadaré first won fame as a poet. Writers hostile to Hoxha suffered persecution. Kadare's attitude to the Hoxha regime was ambiguous. His first novel, Gjenerali i ushtrisë së vdekur (1963, The General of the Dead Army), is a study of post-war Albania and begins in a pouring rain. It is perhaps still among Kadaré's best-known works abroad.

The general of the title is on a mission to Albania, years after the occupation and war, to repatriate the remains of his fellow soldiers, who had died in the country during World War II. "I have a whole army of dead men under my command," he realizes bitterly. Before completing his work, the general suffers a nervous breakdown. Dasma (1968, The Wedding) was well received in Albania. The heroine of the novel, a young peasant girl, is rescued from a traditional arranged marriage by factory work. She meets and marries a man she loves, thus breaking the traditions.

Kadaré served as a delegate to the People's Assembly in 1970 and he was given freedom to travel and to publish abroad. In Kështjella (1970, The Castle), a story of Albania's struggle against the Ottoman Turks, and Ura me tri harqe (1978, The Three-Arched Bridge), a chronicle of the events surrounding the construction of a bridge across a river, Kadaré depicted the feudal Albania. After offending the authorities with a politically satirical poem in 1975, he was forbidden to publish for three years.

Nënpunësi i pallatit të ëndrrave (1981, The Palace of Dreams) was a political allegory of totalitarianism, set in an Ottoman capital. The central character is a young man, Mark-Alem, whose job is to select, sort, and interpret the dreams of the imperial populace in order to discover the "master-dream" that will predict the overthrow of the rulers. The basically humorous novel for others than the Albanian authorities was almost immediately banned after its publication. In 1982 Kadaré was accused by the president of the League of Albanian Writers and Artists of deliberately evading politics by cloaking much of his fiction in history and folklore.

Hoxha died in 1985, and his successor, Ramiz Ali, was a less powerful figure. In October 1991, a few months before the collapse of the communist regime, Kadaré emigrated to Paris where he has lived with his family ever since. Koncert në fund të dimrit (1988, The Concert) was considered the best novel of the year 1991 by the French literary magazine Lire. The story is laid against Albania's break with China. In exile Kadaré has expressed his disappointment and bitterness. La Pyramide (1992), written in French, was set in Egypt during and after the twenty-sixth century B.C. In the novel Kadaré attacked Hoxha's fondness for elaborate statutes, the pyramid form also reflecting any dictators love for hierarchy.

For further reading: Ismail Kadare, le rhapsode albanais by Anne-Marie Mitchel (1990); Eric Faye: Ismail Kadare by Eric Faye (1991); Contemporary Albanian Literature by A. Pipa (1991); Ismail Kadare by Fabienne Terpan (1992); Uviversi letrar i Kadaresë by T. Caushi (1993); Kadareja i panjohur by E. Naumi (1993); Ekskursion në dy vepra të Kadaresë by I. Zamputi (1993); Një fund dhe një fillim by R. Elsie (1995); World Authors 1985-1990, ed. by Vineta Colby (1995); Studies in Modern Albanian Literature and Culture by R. Elsie (1996); Pengu i moskuptimit by S. Sinani (1997); Encyclopaedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, ed. by Steven R. Serafin (1999, vol. 3) - For further information: Ismail Kadare - The Three Acts of Kosove Tragedy by Ismail Kadare - Note: Kadaré's birthdate is in some sources Jan. 28, 1936 or Jan. 26, 1936. In this calendar: Jan. 27.

• Frymëzimet djaloshare, 1954
• Ëndërrimet, 1957
• Shekulli im, 1961
• Gjenerali i ushtrisë së vdekur, 1963 - The General of the Dead Army
• Përse mendohen këto male, 1964
• Vjersha dhe poema të zgjedhura, 1966
• Qyteti i jugut, 1967
• Dasma, 1968 - The Wedding
• Motive me diell, 1968
• Kështjella, 1970 - The Castle
• Autobiografi e popullit në vargje dhe shënime të tjera, 1971
• Kronik' n' gur, Tirana, 1971 - Chronicle in Stone
• Dimri i vetmisë së madhe, 1973
• Linja të largëta, shënime udhëtimi, 1973
• N'ntori i nj' kryeqyteti, Tirana, 1975
• Poezia shqipe 28, 1976
• Koha, vjersha dhe poema, 1976
• Emblema e dikurshme, tregime e novela, 1977
• Dimri i madh, 1977 - The Great Winter
• Ura me tri harqe, 1978 - The Three-Arched The Bridge
• Prilli i thyer, 1978 - Broken April
• On the Lay of the Knights, 1979
• Poezi, 1979
• Buzëqeshje mbi botë, 1980
• Gjakfohtësia, 1980
• Autobiografia e popullit në vargje, 1980 - The Autobiography of the People in Verse
• Kush e solli Doruntinën, 1980 - Doruntine
• Nj' dosje p'r Homerin, 1980
• Sjell'si i fatkeq'sis', 1980
• Viti i mbrapsht', 1980
• Krushqit jan' t' ngrir', 1980
• Vepra letrare, 1981-89 (12 vols.)
• Nënpunësi i pallatit të ëndrrave, 1981 - The Palace of Dreams
• Prilli i thyer, 1980 - Broken April
• Koha e shkrimeve: tregime, novela, përshkrime, 1986
• Koncert n' fund t' dimrit, 1988 - The Concert
• Eskili, ky humbës i madh, 1990
• Ftesë në studio, 1990
• Migjeni ose uragani i ndërprerë, 1990
• Ardhja e Migjenit në letërsinë shqipe, 1991
• Ëndërr mashtruese, tregime e novela, 1991
• Ardhja e Migjenit n' let'rsine shqipe, 1991
• Printemps albanais, 1991
• Nga një dhjetor në tjetrin, 1991 - Albanian Spring
• Përbindëshi, 1991
• Invitation a l'atelier de l'ecrivain suivi de Le Poids de la Croix Paris, 1991
• Pesha e kryqit, 1991
• Nata me h'n', 1992
• La Pyramide, 1992 - The Pyramid
• Oeuvres, 1993-94
• Vepra, 1993-94
• Noël, une anthologie des plus beaux textes de la littérature mondiale, 1994
• L'ombre, 1994
• Albanie, 1995
• La legende des legendes, 1995
• Visage des Balkans, 1995
• Dialog me Alain Bosquet, 1996
• Shkaba, 1996
• Spiritus, roman me kaos, zbulesë dhe cmërs, 1996
• Kushëriri i engjëjve, 1997
• Poèmes, 1957-1997, 1997