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Luljeta Lleshanaku interview, 1999
Lleshanaku, Luljeta
Torrevillas, Rowena
University of Iowa. International Writing Program
Albanian
1999
Rowena Torrevillas interviews the Albanian poet Luljeta Lleshanaku. Lleshanaku has three collections of poems, including Sytw e somnambulws; Kwmbanat e sw djelws; and Gysëmkubizëm. Lleshanaku also writes reviews and critical studies and she is currently employed at the daily newspaper Rilindja. Lleshanaku shares that her first poems came from listening to music and being moved to tears because of the emotion that the music evoked. In her writing, Lleshanaku often focuses on people who are in some sort of physical or mental anguish such as patients dying in a hospital or the tumultuous relationship between a man and a woman. Lleshanaku talks about how her poetry has been welcomed in Albania even though her poetry is a break from traditional Albanian poetry. She finds it interesting how different critics each look at her poetry in a different way. Lleshanaku says she is one of the first poets in Albania to give a visual concept to poetry. She thinks literature is life, but taking care of her family comes before writing her poetry. She talks about how having two daughters keeps her very busy, but that the experiences that come from this hectic life provide her with the substance for her poems.
Authors Writing
1990-2000
United States -- Iowa -- Iowa City
00:33:00
Originally recorded on Super-VHS videotape and converted to wav and mp3 files. Master digital recording available in .wav format.
2005-04-18
Educational use only, no other rights given. U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this digital object. Commercial use or distribution of the object is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder.
Contact the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/contact
Moving image Sound
Interviews
mp4
