Vedat Kokona was a prominent writer, translator, lexicographer, and teacher, born in Karshijaka, Turkey, into a family originally from Gjirokastra. He completed his education at the national (French) lyceum in Korça and went on to pursue higher studies in law at the Sorbonne University in Paris, graduating in 1938. Kokona worked as a translator at the “Naim Frashëri” publishing house and served as a lecturer in the Department of French Language and Literature at the University of Tirana. His early publications include the poetry book “Dritë dhe hije” (“Light and Shadows”) (1939), the collection of stories and novels “Yje të këputur” (“Broken Stars”) (1940), the travelogue “Nga Tirana në Stokholm” (“From Tirana to Stockholm”) (1935), and the poem “Shtatë Prilli” (“April Seven”) (1943). In 1957, he published the play “Hijet e natës” (“Shadows of the Night”), which is set during the liberation of Tirana in November 1944, along with the novel “Me valët e jetës” (“With the Waves of Life”), released in two volumes (1964, 1965). A prolific lexicographer, Vedat Kokona authored multiple French-Albanian and Albanian-French dictionaries between 1966 and 1998 and was fluent in several foreign languages, earning praise as a master translator. He translated works by several renowned writers of world literature into Albanian, including notable French authors such as Corneille, Racine, La Fontaine, Voltaire, and Balzac; English writers like Shakespeare and Dickens; and Russian authors including Tolstoy, Pushkin, and Turgenev. For his significant contributions to literature and culture, Kokona received several honors, including decorations from the French state as Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) and Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Officer of the Order of the Academic Palm). He was also honored by the University of Tirana with the title “Doctor Honoris Causa.” (In the photo: Vedat Kokona)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1205.
Photo: © http://www.akad.gov.al/ash/
Graphic processing: AHCF
