The Irish creative writing organization Fighting Words arrived in Tirana as part of the European Literature Festival (FELT) 2025.

Fighting Words encouraged young people to share their stories through writing.

The event took place at the Puppet Theatre. In cooperation with the Embassy of Ireland in Greece, children from the National Children’s Cultural Center spent two days inventing characters, creating new worlds, and writing stories with the authors of Fighting Words.

These stories will be collected in a special publication and presented on the closing night of the European Literature Festival in Tirana.

The Fighting Words team also met young Albanian writers Suad Arilla and Antonio Çikollari. They held an open discussion about starting a writing career, publishing a first text, and the moments when a story takes an unexpected direction. They spoke about the writing process, rejection, doubt, and the satisfaction of a published work, reminding young writers in the audience that every book requires hard work, patience, and perseverance.

This is the second edition of FELT. This year’s festival runs from 2–6 December and brings Tirana a full program of readings, talks, and activities with authors from across Europe.

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