Writer and poet, Bilal Xhaferri saw his homeland naked, very early. In addition to seeing it, he also affirmed it, loudly and clearly. The son of an executed as a ballista, he fled Saranda early, only to symbolically follow in his father's footsteps as an anti-communist, until he decided to escape.
The figure of the writer Bilal Xhaferri is reexamined by the scholar Bashkim Kuçuku. Through a scholarly book, he examines his creativity and the clashes with power that forced him to flee. From his Cham origin, to the history of the family that built the school, Bilal Xhaferri's connections with Hasan Tahsini's family, political ruptures, his first poems and the ban on publications, Kuçuku reveals the writer's life. "The persecution of the writer Xhaferri began early. He had done ordinary work and had a hot-blooded temperament.
"In his persecution file we also find the floor plan of the house," says Kuçuku. The researcher's book also includes the letter that Xhaferri sent to the infamous dictator, Enver Hoxha, which also talks about Bilal Xhaferri's criticism of Kadare's novel. "The criticisms of Kadare were in fact criticisms of the system, but he made a deviation because he could not attack the government," says Kuçuku, while noting that the persecution had started early and was not related to the criticisms of Kadare, nor does he find a connection between the persecution and Kadare himself.
The book also covers the moment of Bilal Xhaferri's escape, as well as the letter he left at the border where he fled. In it, he accuses the state and the government, the communist system and those who kept him afloat in Albania. The study also covers his settlement in the United States of America, as well as the involvement of the "Vatra" association in the persecution of Xhaferri, which casts a shadow over the history and image of the association that started life as an organization that helped Albania, but was used by the dictatorship in order to maintain power.
According to the data, more than 30 former security agents persecuted the writer in Albania and more than 20 in America, which proves a wide network. Xhaferri was injured in the USA, his office was burned down, which does not seem accidental or coincidental. He never saw a free Albania. He later died in hospital from a serious illness, or at least that is what the documents show.
