Drita (magazine)
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| Editor | Granit Zela |
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| Categories | Literature |
| Frequency | Weekly (Sunday) |
| Publisher | The current publisher is the Association of the Young Modern Artists of Albania; prior publishers included Petro Poga, Shahin Kolonja, and the Albanian League of Writers and Artists, |
| First issue | 14 January 1883 |
| Country | Albania |
| Language | Albanian |
| Website | www.artistet.org/drita |
Drita (Drita meaning "light" in English) is an Albanian literary magazine published by the Association of the Young Modern Artists of Albania (Albanian: Shoqëria e Artistëve të Rinj Modernë).Drita was one of the first magazines in the Albanian language. It has been published for 127 years with some interruptions.
Drita was one of the first magazines published in Albanian. It was initially printed in Istanbul, Turkey (then Ottoman Empire) in 1883 for the first time. The Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights, the Society for the Publication of Albanian Writings and their president, Sami Frashëri, were the main contributors of the magazine, however their identity was secret at that time. The magazine's publisher was Petro Poga. Drita changed its name to Dituria (meaning in English "Knowledge") after the third issue and moved the magazine's base to Bucharest. The magazine was placed under the direction of Pandeli Sotiri.
The publication was known to be against the wishes of the authorities and one of the writers, Naim Frashëri signed his name as just "D" to try to avoid being identified. The committee that supported the magazine also published books of the bible in Albanian. They managed to publish both the Gospel of Matthew and the book of Genesis in Albanian Tosk, and the Gospel of Matthew in Macedo-Roman (now called Aromanian).
This magazine was not just the first scholarly magazine in Albanian, it was part of the first modern use of written Albanian. The magazine was only possible because of the work of Koto Hoxhi, Sami Frashëri, Pashko Vasa and Jani Vreto who had devised an alphabet for expressing the Albanian language in 1879. Based on this it was possible to create the first alphabet book in Albanian, translate the Bible and publish Drita.
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