Mario Bellizzi (b. 1957), a poet of the Albanian-speaking Arbëresh minority of southern Italy, was born in San Basile in the province of Cosenza. His verse has appeared in various Arbëresh periodicals in southern Italy, as well as in Kosova and Albania. Bellizzi currently lives in Trebisacce on the Gulf of Taranto. Among his verse collections are: Who are We Now?, Peja 1997; and Last Exit to Bukura Morea, Castrovillari 2003.

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