Vorea Ujko (1918-1989), pseudonym of Domenico Bellizzi, is among the most popular and respected of the Arbëresh (Italo-Albanian) poets. Ujko was a modest priest from Frascineto (Alb. Frasnita) in Calabria who taught modern literature in Firmo (Alb. Firma) where his memory has been cherished since his death in a car accident in January 1989. Ujko's verse, a refined lyric expression of Arbëresh being, has appeared in many periodicals and anthologies as well as in seven collections, four of which were published in Italy, two in Albania and one in Kosova. Vorea Ujko is a poet of rich tradition. He is the worthy heir of the great nineteenth-century Arbëresh poets Girolamo De Rada (1814-1903) and Giuseppe Serembe (1844-1901), both of whom he admired very much. His verse is intimately linked with the Arbëresh experience, imbued with the gjaku i shprishur (the scattered blood). Though devoid of the lingering sentiments of romantic nationalism so common in Albanian verse, and the standard motifs of exile lyrics, Ujko's poetry does not fail to evince the strength of his attachment to the culture of his Balkan ancestors despite five hundred years in the dheu i huaj ‘foreign land.' His verse collections include: Zgjimet e gjakut, Castrovillari s.a. (The awakening of the blood); Kosovë, Cosenza 1973 (Kosova); Mote moderne, Schiavonea 1976 (Modern times); Ankth, Prishtina 1979 (Anguish); Stinët e mia, Corigliano Calabro Stazione 1980 (My seasons); Këngë arbëreshe, Tirans 1982 (Arbëresh songs); Burimi, Tirana 1985 (The source); and Hapma derën, zonja mëmë, Tirana 1990 (Open the door, mother).

Translator Robert Elsie (Vancouver, Canada, 1950) is a leading specialist in Albanian affairs. He is the author of thirty-five books on Albania and its culture, including literary translations from Albanian, and of many articles and research papers. Elsie studied at the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1972 with a degree in classical studies and linguistics. In the following years, he did postgraduate research at the Free University of Berlin, the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and the University of Paris IV in Paris, the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in Ireland and the University of Bonn, where he finished his doctorate in 1978 at the Linguistics Institute. From 1982 to 1987, he was employed by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bonn. Since that time he has worked as a freelance writer and conference interpreter, primarily for Albanian and German. He lives in the Eifel Mountains of Germany, not far from the Belgian border.

Weblinks:   www.elsie.de and www.albanianliterature.com