Gjekë Marinaj: Paradigma e parajsës

Albanian-American poet, writer, translator, literary critic, publisher and philosopher Gjekë Marinaj, PhD, has been crossing borders all his life. In speaking freely, he stepped past the limits of his native Albania s former communist regime. In supporting human understanding, he has traversed geographic boundaries between nations, moving from Albania to Yugoslavia, then the United States, his adopted country of residency, which he has made a base for far-ranging cultural diplomacy. In advocating for interdisciplinary interaction beyond linguistic, political and intellectual borders, Marinaj has gained an international reputation as a mediator for literature and philosophy in society. In 2019, Marinaj s native Albania granted him the title of Nation s Ambassador, reflecting his contribution to Albanian and world literature and culture through poetry, prose, journalism, literary criticism, philosophy and academic teaching. Dr. Marinaj currently serves as the director of Mundus Artium Press and as the editor of Mundus Artium (a Journal of International Literature and the Arts). He teaches English and Communications, including world literature, at Richland College in Dallas. An American citizen, he lives with his wife Dusita in McKinney, Texas. Collections of Marinaj s poetry and prose include Do Not Depart From Me, Infinite, Prayer on the Eighth Day of the Week, The Other Side of the Mirror and Some Things Can t Be Kept Secret. His more than twenty books have been translated and published in more than a dozen languages, including Albanian, Romanian, Serbian, German, Italian, Russian, Vietnamese, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, French, Lao, Bengali and Spanish. In addition to editing myriad books in a range of languages, he has translated several books from English to Albanian, two from Albanian to English, and two from Vietnamese to Albanian. He has served as a guest editor for Translation Review and as editor-in-chief for Pena International. As a poet, critic and philosopher, Marinaj has given numerous professional presentations in the United States, Albania, India, Italy, Vietnam, Mexico, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Ireland, the United Kingdom and other nations. In varied international contexts, he has conducted and been the subject of numerous media interviews, focused on culture and society. In his ongoing interaction with the Asia Pacific, his in-person initiatives have included, in Vietnam, supporting the launch of his Albanian translation of Ho Chi Minh s Prison Diary, and in Kolkata, India, participating in the World Thinkers and Writers Peace Meet, where an award from the International Society for Intercultural Studies and Research honored his literary cultivation of universality and harmony. In addition to the Nation s Ambassador Award, Marinaj has received major international literary prizes and honors including the 2020 KS International Special Literary Prize; the Albanian BookerMan Prize; the Pjetër Arbnori Prize, awarded by Albania s Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports; the Sojurin Prize; the Golden Pen Award; from the Vietnam Writers Association, two National Insignia Prizes for his translation of Ho Chi Minh s Prison Diary and for scholarly work for the cause of Vietnam s Literature and Arts ; M. Madhe s Citizen of Honor Award; and Italy s International Author Prize. He is the recipient of an award, presented in Kolkata, India, by the International Society for Intercultural Studies and Research (ISISAR) at the World Thinkers and Writers Peace Meet on Planetary Crisis and Human Liberation, for his quest for peace through literature. The Underground Literature Movement and the Platform Literary Journal presented Marinaj with the Salutation to the World Poet award for maintaining cultural world traditions of Literature. He has received multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature.