The writer, journalist, publisher, and cleric, Ndoc Nikaj, passed away in Burrel prison. He was born in Shkodër, where he graduated from the Jesuit college (1888) and worked as a parish priest in his hometown and in the surrounding area. In the years 1910-1921, he published the newspapers “Koha” (“The Time”), “Bashkimi” (“The Union”) and “Besa Shqyptare” one after the other. After the liberation, he was imprisoned for political reasons. He made a name especially as a prose writer; is among the initiators of the novel in Albanian literature. He published the novels “Shkodra e rrethueme”(“The surrounded Shkodra”) (I, 1913; II, 1914), “Bukurusha” (1918), “Burbuqja” (1920), as well as the drama “Sister for Brother” (1924). In Ndoc Nikaj’s historical novels, the patriotic theme is combined with love stories. The novel “Burbuqja” deals with social issues, as well as the fate of the individual in the face of wild patriarchal morality and social injustices. In 1902, he published two historical works “History of Albania” and “History of Turkey”, which were used as school textbooks. In 1909, he founded the “Nikaj” printing house, the first in Shkodra. He was arrested in 1946, at the age of 82. (In the photo: Ndoc Nikaj)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 1843.
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndoc_Nikaj
Graphic processing: AHCF
