Basri Çapriqi (b. 1960) is a leading poet of the Albanian community in Montenegro. He was born in Ana e Malit, near Ulqin (BCS Ulcinj), on the Adriatic coast. Çapriqi studied Albanian language and literature at the University of Prishtina, graduating in 1987. He currently teaches Albanian at the Faculty there.

Basri Çapriqi is the author of six volumes of verse, the most recent of which is Frutat bizare, Prishtina 1996 (Weird Fruits). He has also published literary studies and anthologies.

Translator Robert Elsie (Vancouver, Canada, 1950) is a leading specialist in Albanian affairs. He is the author of thirty-five books on Albania and its culture, including literary translations from Albanian, and of many articles and research papers. Elsie studied at the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1972 with a degree in classical studies and linguistics. In the following years, he did postgraduate research at the Free University of Berlin, the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and the University of Paris IV in Paris, the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in Ireland and the University of Bonn, where he finished his doctorate in 1978 at the Linguistics Institute. From 1982 to 1987, he was employed by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bonn. Since that time he has worked as a freelance writer and conference interpreter, primarily for Albanian and German. He lives in the Eifel Mountains of Germany, not far from the Belgian border.

Weblinks:   www.elsie.de and www.albanianliterature.com