Poetry festival director Shaip Emerllahu discusses his decades-long fight for Albanian rights and culture in North Macedonia.
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Shaip Emerllahu, director of the ‘Days of Naim’ international poetry festival in Tetovo, North Macedonia, discusses how poetry serves as a cultural connector in his decades-long effort to secure Albanian rights. The festival, held in Tetovo, features poets from various nationalities reciting works that are then translated into Albanian, affirming diversity as a shared human asset. Emerllahu’s commitment to Albanian culture and rights stems from periods of repression and conflict, including his student activism in Kosovo and the subsequent establishment of the first Albanian University in North Macedonia. After a funding dispute with the Writers’ Association, he independently developed the festival, which has since survived periods of intense conflict. Today, the festival has grown significantly, boasting its own publishing house and contributing to a substantial library of Albanian literature.
