Migjeni

Migjeni
Migjeni in the 1930s
Born	(1911-10-13)13 October 1911 Shkodër, Ottoman Empire (today Albania)
Died	26 August 1938(1938-08-26) (aged 26) Torino, Italy
Pen name	Migjeni
Occupation	Writer
Language	Serbo-Croatian, Russian, Albanian
Nationality	Albania
Citizenship	Albania Yugoslavia
Period	1930–1938
Genre	Realism

Millosh Gjergj Nikolla (13 October 1911–26 August 1938) was an Albanian poet and writer, known under his nom de plume Migjeni.

Millosh was born in 1911, in Shkodër, Sanjak of Scutari, Ottoman Empire (now Albania), into a family of Slavic origin, which spoke Serbo-Croatian at home. In Albanian his full name during the 1930s was written in two forms Milosh Nikoliç and Millosh Nikolla. In Serbian, his name is written Miloš Nikolić (Милош Николић). The surname Nikoliç (Nikolić), later changed into Nikolla, derived from his grandfather Nikola (d. 1876), who hailed from the region of Upper Reka (present-day northwest R. Macedonia) from where he moved to Scutari in the late 19th century where he practiced the trade of a bricklayer and later married Stake Milani, from Kuči, Montenegro, with whom he had two sons: Gjeorgje (Migjeni's father) and Krsto. The family owned a bar in the city. His father Đorđe "Đoko" Nikolić (1872–1924; Albanian transliteration Gjeorgje "Gjoko" Nikoliç, Albanian form Gjergj Nikolla) was mentioned in 1905 as the head of one of the Orthodox Serb-Montenegrin households in the Vraka–Scutari area, and he was also one of representatives (signers) of the town for the establishment of the Orthodox Church of Albania in 1922. His mother Sofia Kokoshi (d. 1916) was educated at the Catholic seminary of Scutari, run by Italian nuns. His maternal uncle Jovan Kokoshi teached at the Orthodox seminary in Bitola. Milosh had a brother that died in infancy, and four sisters: Lenka, Jovanka, Cvetka and Olga.

Angjelina Ceka Luarasi, daughter of Migjeni's younger sister Olga stated in her book Migjeni–Vepra, co-authored with Skënder Luarasi, that Migjeni was of Albanian and not of any Slavic origin and Migjeni spoke only Albanian as his mother tongue and later learned to speak a Slavic language while growing up. Angjelina states that the family is descended from the Nikolla family from Debar in the Upper Reka region and the Kokoshi family. Angjelina maintained that the family used many Slavic names because of their Orthodox faith.