Background
Julia Naçi was born 1 July, 1949 in Gjirokastra, Albania during the Enver Hoxha dictatorship, which imposed strict sanctions and censorship on literature allowing no development of literary markets until the 1970s.
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Julia Gjika
Edit ProfileEducation
In spite of the ban, Gjika studied finance at Ushrarake Academy and Albanian literature at university.
Career
She is one of the few writers publishing in the Albanian language and writes poetry as well working as a journalist. Her poems have been praised by her peers and have been included in several publications of collected works. She served as editor of the magazine 10 Korriku (July 10th) and was chief financial officer in various military units in Korca and Tirana.
She was one of a group of "military poets," women who served together in the Albanian military and wrote poems, which included award winning poetess Iliriana Sulkuqi.
Gjika published two works in Albania, her first book Ditëlindje (Birthday) in 1971 and the second Ku Gjej Poezinë (Where I Find Poetry) in 1978. She immigrated to the United States in 1996 and took advantage of the absence of censorship.
Gjika"s work is well respected by her peers in eastern Europe and has been included in published collections of poetic works. January M. Stuchly, a Moravian lawyer and writer, has published three collections of poems from those he considers to be "masterpieces." He included Gjika"s work in his 1998 collection.
A recent publication by Raimonda Moisiu, Letrat shqip këndej e përtej Atlantikut (Letters Slip Here and Across the Atlantic) included works by Gijika, in his attempt to preserve those voices he deems "masters of dialogue and conversation, who communicate artistic values".
