Kadare and Jeziorski bring Albania to Poland

By Ben Andoni

TIRANA, Oct. 22 — Marek Jeziorski, a former Polish ambassador to Albania and one of the few foreign diplomats fluent in Albanian, has turned his long affection for the country into literature.

In Warsaw, Jeziorski has just released two new books: a selection of Ismail Kadare stories titled The Bringer of Misfortune (Zwiastun nieszczęścia), and a reflective volume of essays and memories from his diplomatic years, Hotel Dajti (Albania czasie przeszłym).

The first gathers eleven stories from different periods of Kadare’s work — the third Kadare title Jeziorski has translated into Polish. The second blends reportage, history and personal vignettes from the last years of communist Albania.
“It is not an autobiography,” he told Panorama, “but a literary-historical portrait of a country I grew to love.”

Jeziorski’s translations have earned praise in Poland for preserving the rhythm and texture of Albanian prose. His version of Chronicle in Stone, published earlier this year, was noted for capturing how Kadare’s fiction balanced censorship and creativity under communist rule.

For Jeziorski, translation is more than language — it is memory and respect. “A bridge between two cultures,” as one Polish critic described his work.

Both new books, issued by the Sedno publishing house, confirm his quiet role as a cultural link between Tirana and Warsaw — a diplomat who turned his posting into friendship and lasting art.