Selfixhe Ciu (married name Selfixhe Broja, pen name Kolombja; 1918,

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë mountains and the Drino, at 300 metres above sea le ...

– 2003,

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

) was an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

writer and the first Albanian woman writer to ever publish literature in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. On 28 November 1935, when she was 17, Selfixhe Ciu published under the plume name ''Kolombja'', a poem on the ''Populli'' newspaper. She then is part of the Albanian writers of the 1930s period. She was also one of the very first Albanian Feminists.

Life

Born in

on March 31, 1918, Ciu was friends with

Musine Kokalari Musine Kokalari (10 February 1917 – 14 August 1983) was an Albanian prose writer and politician in Albania's pre-communist period. She was the founder of the Social-Democratic Party of Albania in 1943. Kokalari was the first published female wri ...

, one of the first Albanian women to publish literature. She was studying in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, Italy, when the

Italian invasion of Albania The Italian invasion of Albania (April 7–12, 1939) was a brief military campaign which was launched by the Kingdom of Italy against the Albanian Kingdom in 1939. The conflict was a result of the imperialistic policies of the Italian prime m ...

occurred, in 1939. She then returned to Albania with her husband, Xhemal Broja, and opened with him a book store in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...

. She joined the ranks of the Communist Party of Albania, along Drita Kosturi and

Nexhmije Hoxha Nexhmije Hoxha (; ; 8 February 1921 – 26 February 2020) was an Albanian communist politician. For many years she was the wife of Enver Hoxha, the first leader of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania and the First Secretary of the Party o ...

, and was one of the organizers of an illegal antifascist demonstration on February 22, 1942. For that she was arrested and condemned to death, but then later released. After World War II, in 1947, she was deported along with her husband Xhemal Broja. In 1966 she was deported for a second time. In 1998 Ciu published her memories, as well as poetry and other publications, into a book, entitled ''Tallazet e jetes'' ( en, Winds of life). She died on August 22, 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciu, Selfixhe Albanian women writers 20th-century Albanian women writers 1918 births 2003 deaths People from Gjirokastër Albanian exiles Prisoners and detainees of Albania Albanian prisoners sentenced to death