Albanian publishing editor Bujar Hudhri confirmed the death of renowned novelist Ismail Kadare on Monday morning, at the age of 88. Kadare had been rushed to a hospital in Tirana after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was widely considered a possible contender for the Nobel Literature Prize.
Kadare gained international recognition with the publication of his novel “The General of the Dead Army” in 1963, during a time when Albania was still under communist rule. In 1990, he left Albania and moved to France, just before the fall of the communist regime in that country following student protests in December. He resided in Paris until recently, when he returned to Tirana. Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron honored him with the title of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor during a visit to Albania.
Throughout his career, Kadare received numerous international awards for his extensive body of work, which included over 80 novels, plays, screenplays, poetry collections, essays and story collections translated into 45 languages.