Life

Keko was born in the Albanian capital, Tirana

Tirana

Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...

, to cinematographer

Cinematographer

A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...

 parents Endri and Xhanfize Keko. In 1979 he started his studies for Gjuhë dhe Letërsi Shqipe (Albanian language and literature) in the University of Tirana

University of Tirana

The University of Tirana is a public university located in Tirana, Albania.-History:UT was founded in 1957 as the State University of Tirana through the merging of five existing institutes of higher education, the most important of which was the Institute of Sciences, founded in 1947...

, where he graduated in 1983. During his study he met his wife Xhulieta, who studied English language and literature and later became a primary school teacher. Her parents were diplomats and served among others in China and Algeria. Dori and Xhuli have two sons, Martin and Elio, born in the 1980s.

Career

Teodor worked as a journalist for the literary newspaper Drita

Drita (magazine)

Drita magazine is an Albanian literary magazine published by the Association of the Young Modern Artists of Albania . Drita was one of the first magazines in the Albanian language. It has been published for 127 years with some interruptions.-History: 1883-1922:Drita was one of the first magazines...

. When the Stalinist system dissolved in 1990, Keko engaged himself as a journalist for the daily Koha Jonë, and later became editor of the political newspaper Aleanca (organ of the Aleanca Demokratike Party) and of the weekly cultural and artistic magazine Aks. Together with the Albanian journalist Arben Kallamata he founded the 'Independend League of Journalists'. They also were involved in the foundation of the Albanian section of the Association of European Journalists. On March 10 and 18th, 1994 Teodor Keko and his publisher (and ex-minister of culture) Prec Zogaj were assaulted and heavily injured. For some weeks Teodor was afraid of leaving his apartment. After Teodor died in 2002 his wife and children went to the Netherlands. A commemoration of Teodor Keko is the Rruga Teodor Keko (Teodor keko Street) in Tirana.

For several years, Keko contributed to Albanian politics, and for one legislative session he was also a member of parliament for the Democratic Alliance Party. Teodor Keko began publishing his first works in the 1980s when he became famous for his short stories.

Obituary

Keko died prematurely on 20 August 2002.

The well-known Albanian writer, politician and diplomat Besnik Mustafaj

Besnik Mustafaj

Besnik Bajram Mustafaj is an Albanian writer and diplomat. He became foreign minister of Albania on September 11, 2005, when the government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha took office. He resigned on April 24, 2007 and was replaced by Lulzim Basha on April 25. His resignation came after strong...

, gave the last speech. Among other things he said:

Ndër të gjithë miqtë e tu të shumtë, mua më ra shorti i vështirë të të them lamtumirën e fundit në emër të tyre. Ne të gjithë të kemi dashur shumë. Dhe po të japim sot me vete mirënjohjen tonë më të thellë, për atë që ti ke ditur, ke mundur dhe ke dashur të na japësh një jetë të tërë. Unë tani përfitoj nga heshtja jote e detyrueshme dhe do të them çfarë të dua. Ti s'më ndërpret dot me të tallur, siç bëje zakonisht...

Translation: Among all your many friends, it was my tough luck to say the final farewell in their name. We all loved you greatly. And today we are giving you our most profound gratitude, for that which you have known, have toiled and have desired to give us a full life. I now benefit from your obligatory silence and will say what I want. You do no cease to tease me at all, as you usually did.

Works

His first major work, the novel "Loja" (The Game) was widely praised as it marked the birth of a new huge talent. In all, he is the author of at least fifteen volumes of poetry, novels, drama and short stories, his specialty. His novel "Lajmëtarja e Vdekjeve" (The Harbinger of Deaths), was published on the eve of the system changes and is one of major works written during the last days of the regime. It is one of the books the author himself loved the most. His last work, "Hollësira Fatale" (Fatal Details), 2001, became a bestseller in Albania. Teodor Keko is one of Albanian authors who is in the process of being translated into English by Robert Elsie

Robert Elsie

Robert Elsie is a scholar who specializes in Albanian literature and folklore.- Life :Born on June 29, 1950 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Elsie studied at the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1972 with a diploma in Classical Studies and Linguistics...

.

Keko's characters are filthy and noble. The young Albanian director Eno Milkani (His documentary "Edeni i braktisur" - script by Roland Gjoza, a "G&G FilmPro" production - participated in the 38th edition of Karlovy Vary film festival) has written the script of his upcoming movie "Shenjtorja" (The Saint) based on Keko's "Dymbëdhjetë shenjtorë, një profet dhe disa njerëz" (Twelve Saints, a Prophet and Some People). According to Milkani, Keko's characters are "products of a hopeless society but with a nobility that blossoms only within them who have gone through a totalitarian system."