Ilo Mitkë Qafëzezi

Ilo Mitkë Qafëzezi (1889–1964) was a prolific Albanian writer of historical and religious subjects.

Ilo Mitkë Qafëzezi
Born	1889 Korçë, Ottoman Albania
Died	1964
Nationality	Albanian
Occupation	Teacher, researcher
Known for	Constantine of Berat Codex Translation of Alipashiad Manuscripts of Theodore Kavalliotis
Notable work	Protopapa Theodhor Nastas Kavalioti, Teacher of the New Academy of Voskopojë, 1718-1719

Life

Born in 1889 in Korçë, Albania, (then Ottoman Empire) he emigrated to Romania when he was 13 and then to the United States. In 1924 he returned to Korçë, where he worked as a teacher and then school director of the Romanian school of the city, in use mostly by the Aromanian minority.[1] Until World War II, he was known as the foremost Albanian biographer.[2]

An autodidact, Qafëzezi was very prolific in his publications in several literary and historical periodicals and bulletins. He also published important historical works on Voskopoja, Berat and Vithkuq, and he discovered manuscripts of Theodore Kavalliotis's work, as well as a copy of the first edition of the Εισαγωγική Διδασκαλία ("Introductory instruction") of Daniel Moscopolites, published in Venice in 1794. Later he discovered manuscripts of Kostandin Berati, as well as the primer of Naum Veqilharxhi, dated 1844. Qafëzezi translated into Albanian the Alipashiad, a poem on Ali Pasha of Tepelena, written originally in Greek, by Haxhi Shehreti.[3]

References

1. Stuart Edward Mann (1955). Albanian literature: an outline of prose, poetry, and drama. B. Quaritch. p. 108.
2. Joseph Twadell Shipley (1946). Encyclopedia of literature. Philosophical Library. p. 18.
3. Bitraku, Apostol Ilo Qafëzezi, një thesar ende i pazbuluar i kulturës. "Ilo Qafëzezi, një thesar ende i pazbuluar i kulturës". Infoarkiva. Retrieved 21 September 2015.