Ismail Kadare

Ismail Kadare is Albania's best-known poet and novelist. His first novel, The General of the Dead Army, made his name in Albania. After 1986, under the Communist regime, Kadare's work was smuggled out of Albania by his French publisher, Editions Fayard, and stored in safe keeping for later publication. Translations of his many novels have been published in more than forty countries. Kadare was granted political asylum in France in October 1990. Since 1995, he has divided his time between Paris and Tirana. In 1996, Kadare was elected foreign associate member of the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques in France.

In June 2005, Kadare was named the winner of the inaugural Man Booker International Prize for his lifelong achievements in fiction.

• The Siege