Julia Gjika is an Albanian poet and essayist living and writing in the United States since 1996. She belongs to the first generation of Albanian women poets, having published her first book Ditëlindje (Birthday) in 1971, followed by Ku Gjej Poezinë (Where I Find Poetry) in 1978. Gjika is the author of two other collections of poetry from which these translations are taken: Muzg, 2007 (Dusk) and Ëndrra e Kthimit, 2010 (The Dream of Returning). Her poetry is characterized by an intensely moving and discerning examination of the immigrant experience. Her work is widely published in Albanian magazines, has been translated into Romanian and Polish, and has appeared in English in Two Lines Online, Gobshite Quarterly, 236 Magazine, Taos Journal of International Poetry and Art and elsewhere.

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