Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare awarded French Legion of Honor title by Macron
TIRANA, Albania — Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare was awarded the Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor title by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
Macron arrived in Tirana after a summit of European Union leaders with Western Balkan countries earlier in the day. He didn’t attend the talks because of the attack in which a teacher was fatally stabbed and three other people were wounded at a school in northern France.
In a long speech describing Kadare’s different novels throughout his writing career and how he had resisted Albania’s communist government, Macron awarded the title “for his works, his courage to rise up against a dictatorial system ... and a defender of freedom, a great writer of humanity.”
Kadare, 87, has long been mentioned as a possible contender for the No...