The “Leaf House” National Museum today commemorated the dissident writer, playwright, and poet, Kasëm Trebeshina (August 8, 1926 – November 6, 2017).

Kasëm Trebeshina was born in Berat on August 8, 1926. He began his studies at the Normal School of Elbasan but interrupted them in 1942 due to his active involvement in the National Liberation War from a young age. After the establishment of the communist regime in Albania, he served as an officer in the Directorate of People’s Defense. Trebeshina then discontinued his higher studies at the “Ostrovsky” Theater Institute in Leningrad and dedicated himself entirely to literary creativity.

He opposed the socialist realism method from the very beginning. His letter, “Promemorje,” addressed to Enver Hoxha and written on October 5, 1953, criticized the establishment of the dictatorial system in post-World War II Albania. This open opposition to the direction that literature and the arts were intended to follow led to his imprisonment and the loss of his right to publish.

In 1954, Trebeshina was sentenced to 3 years in prison on charges of agitation and propaganda against the government. On May 18, 1962, the exile-deportation commission sentenced him to 5 years of exile, which commenced on May 18, 1962, and concluded on May 18, 1967.

A considerable number of Trebeshina’s literary works began to be published in the early 1990s in Pristina, but the majority of his works, including 18 volumes of poetry, 42 plays, 21 novels, and collections of stories, remain in manuscript form. The most representative work is “Season of Seasons,” which includes three novels: “Season of the Seasons,” “Odin Mondvalsen,” and “The Village on Seven Hills.” Other well-known works by him include “Mekami, Turkish Melody,” “History of Those Who Are Not,” and “Legend of What Is Gone.” Kasëm Trebeshina passed away in Ankara on November 6, 2017.

/m.ll/