Ismail Kadare (Albanian: [isma?il kada??e], also spelled Kadaré; born 28 January 1936) is a best-selling Albanian writer. He is known for his novels, although he was first noticed for his poetry collections. He has been a leading literary figure in his own country since the 1960s. In the 1960s he focused on short stories until the publication of his first novel, The General of the Dead Army. In 1996 he became a lifetime member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences of France. In 1992, he was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca; in 2005, he won the inaugural Man Booker International Prize and in 2009 the Prince of Asturias Award of Arts. He has divided his time between Albania and France since 1990. Kadare has been mentioned as a possible recipient for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. He began writing very young, in the mid-1950s. His works have been published in about thirty languages.
He emigrated to France in 1990 because of the difficult political situation in his home country, but is still considered Albania`s most important living author.
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First winner of the Man Booker International Prize (2005).