Shqiponja Axhami Trota

Shqiponja Axhami Trota is an Albanian writer, born in Kukës, Albania, in 1977. She completed her primary and secondary education in her hometown and studied Albanian Language and Literature at the University of Tirana from 1996 to 2000.

• Books
• Translations
• Awards
• Media
• Contact
• Biography

Biography

For around fifteen years, she worked in education as a teacher and school heatecher at “Ahmet Voka” Secondary School in Gostil, Kukës. She currently lives in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, where she continues to work in education, supporting and motivating students with special educational needs.

Books & Tranlations

Her literary work includes poetry, novels, novellas, short stories and children’s literature. Her books include Psherëtima pranë shelgut lotues, Vajza dhe lulekamomili, Fantazma me fustan të kuq, E imja kjo rrugë, Udha e zogjve, Zoti zbret mbi jaseminë, Këngë për brezin tim, Pengu i një varrmihësi, Fundi i Uskanës and Ushtria e bretkosave.Her work has also reached readers beyond the Albanian-speaking world. Zoti zbret mbi jaseminë was translated and published in English as God Descends on Jasmine and in Italian as Dio si declina sul gelsomino. Ushtria e bretkosave was published in Italian as L’esercito delle rane.

Awards & Literary Activity

The novel Fundi i Uskanës received Third Prize in the novel competition organised by Buzuku Publishing House and was positively received by literary critics. The short-story collection Pengu i një varrmihësi was a candidate for the National Literature Prize in the short prose category.In the United Kingdom, she has taken part in poetry festivals, literary meetings and activities connected with Writing West Midlands, where she has presented and performed her work. At some of these events, she has recited poetry in support of Ukraine and the victims of war. She is also connected with the PEN community in Cardiff.Her literary work and activities have also been featured in Albanian and international cultural media and platforms, including Europe Books, Hejza, ObserverKult and Gazeta ExLibris .

Writing & Themes

Her writing brings together human experience, memory, identity and the relationship between the individual and society, while also drawing on symbolic, psychological and imaginative elements. Shqiponja Axhami Trota continues to live and write in Cardiff, maintaining a strong connection with Albanian language and culture while reaching a wider international readership.