Luigj Gurakuqi
| Luigj Gurakuqi | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
February 19, 1879 Shkodër, Scutari Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now Albania) |
| Died | 2 March 1925 (aged 46) Bari (Italy) |
| Pen name | Jakin Shkodra and Lekë Gruda |
| Occupation | writer, journalist, politician |
| Ethnicity |
 Albanian
|
| Period | 1900-1925 |
| Literary movement | Albanian National Revival |
Luigj Gurakuqi (February 19, 1879 – March 2, 1925) (also called: Louis Gurakuchi) was an Albanian writer and politician. He was an important figure of the Albanian National Awakening and was honoured with the People's Hero of Albania medal.
Gurakuqi was born in Shkodër on February 19, 1879. Gurakuqi studied at the Saverian College run by the Jesuits in his native Shkodër. Encouraged by his teachers, Anton Xanoni and Gaspër Jakova Merturi, he began writing poetry in Italian, Latin, and Albanian. In 1897, he left for Italy to study at the Italo–Albanian college of San Demetrio Corone (Collegio of Sant'Adriano) under Girolamo De Rada, who was to exercise a strong influence on him. Gurakuqi also studied medicine in Naples for three years, but his interests were focused more on science and the humanities. In Naples, he came into contact with Arbëresh literary and political figures and published Albanian school texts and a book on prosody. He was also a poet and published under the pen name Jakin Shkodra and Lekë Gruda. He published articles in Albania, Drita, Kalendari-kombëtar, Liria e Shqipërisë, and La Nazione Albanese.
In 1908, after the revolution of the Young Turks, Gurakuqi returned definitively to Albania and soon became a leading figure in the nationalist movement, which led to the country’s independence in 1912. Together with Gjergj Fishta, he represented the Bashkimi (Unity) literary society of Shkodër at the Congress of Monastir in 1908, and, in September 1909, he attended the Congress of Elbasan, which was held to organize Albanian-language teaching and education. When Albania’s first teacher-training college, Shkolla Normale (currently known as Aleksandër Xhuvani University), was set up in Elbasan on 1 December 1909, Luigj Gurakuqi was appointed its director. Gurakuqi took part in the uprising in the northern Albanian uprising around Shkodra in 1911, the uprising in southern Albania in 1912, and in March of that year traveled to Skopje and Gjakova to stir up support for open resistance to Turkish rule and the inclusion of Kosovo in a new Albanian state. Gurakuqi took part in the declaration of Albanian independence in Vlora on 28 November 1912 and served as minister of education in the first Albanian government, headed by Ismail Qemal bey Vlora.
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