The Caffeinated Writer

Allow me to take a momentary break from my holiday break to mention Ismael Kadare’s story in the New Yorker this week.

If Albanian fiction is your thing, you might also enjoy the work of one unsung yet magnificent Jiri Kajane, whose work I’ve had the pleasure of publishing, in translation, of course, in Fiction Attic. In fact, Kajane’s story, “Okay, A Cake Then!” was the first one I ever published on Fiction Attic. It was translated by Kevin Phelan (disclaimer: he’s my husband!) and Bill U’Ren (you might have seen him playing drums with Madison Smartt Bell’s band) at AWP or some other writerly soiree.) About six years ago, Time Out Scotland called Kajane “the second greatest living Albanian writer,” the first being Kadare.