Fatmir Sejdiu is the 2nd and current President of Kosovo, a Serbian province under UN administration since the 1999 Kosovo War. He was born in the small village of Pakaštica near Podujevo, in Kosovo, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Sejdiu was an influential parliamentarian in the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the party of former Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova. He was elected President by the Kosovo Assembly after Rugova died from lung cancer in early 2006.

Ali Pasha of Tepelen or of Yannina, the "Lion of Yannina",, and Turkish: "Tepedelenli Ali Paşa", and Aromanian: "Ali Pãshelu".

Veton Surroi (born July 17, 1961) is a popular Kosovar Albanian publicist and politician. Surroi is the founder and leader of the ORA reformist political party, and is a member of Kosovo parliament since 2004. Veton Surroi in 1997 established one of the biggest Kosovar Albanian daily newspapers "Koha Ditore" and was the editor-in-chief for a number of years before deciding to enter Kosovar politics.

Robert Elsie is an expert in Albanian culture and affairs. Elsie studied at the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1972 with a diploma in Classical Studies and Linguistics. In the following years, he continued his post-graduate studies at the Free University of Berlin, at the "École Pratique des Hautes Études" and at the University of Paris IV: Paris-Sorbonne, at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in Ireland, and at the University of Bonn, …

Gjon Buzuku (16th century) was an Albanian Catholic clergyman who wrote the first known printed book in Albanian. Gjon Buzuku was born in the village of Ljare (Kraja) in Bar, Montenegro close to Northern Albania (Kraje is located on the shores of Lake Scutari). He probably lived in or near Venice. There are claims that he was the bishop of two dioceses in north Albania or that he was a monk.

Naim Frashëri was an Ottoman-born ethnic Albanian romantic poet and, together with his brothers Sami and Abdyl, a prominent figure of the "Rilindja Kombëtare" (the national renaissance of Albania). His father was an impoverished "bey" from Frashër, in the District of Përmet. Naim studied at the "Zosimea" Greek language high school in Ioannina. Hailing from a family with long connections to the Bektashi Sufi order, …

Faik Konitza (1875-1942), (in Albanian, "Faik Konica"), was one of the greatest figures of Albanian culture in the early decades of the twentieth century. Prewar Albanian minister to Washington, his literary review, "Albania", became the focal publication of Albanian writers living abroad. Faik Konitza wrote little in the way of literature, but as a stylist, critic, …

Flora Brovina, is a Kosovar Albanian poet, pediatrician and women’s rights activist. She was born in the town of Srbica in the Drenica Valley of Kosovo, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), and was raised in Priština, where she went to school and began studying medicine. After finishing her university studies in Zagreb, where she specialized in pediatrics, she returned to Kosovo and worked for a time as a journalist for the Albanian-language daily newspaper "Rilindja".

Pjetër Bogdani, known in Italian as "Pietro Bogdano", is the most original writer of early literature in Albania. He is author of the "Cuneus Prophetarum" ("The Band of the Prophets"), 1685, the first prose work of substance written originally in Albanian (i.e. not a translation).

Norbert Jokl was an Austrian albanologist of Jewish descent who has been called the father of albanology. Jokl was born in Bzenec (then Bisenz), Southern Moravia, now the Czech Republic as the only son of a merchant. He left high school with praise and entered the law faculty at the University of Vienna. He received a degree there of doctor of law "summa cum laude" on June 23, 1901. For some time he acted as a probationer of law, …

Ndre Mjeda. Mjeda also taught music in Cremona, Italy, at the College of Marco Girolamo Vida from 1887 to 1891, and translated various religious literature. He published "Jeta e sceitit sc’ Gnon Berchmans" ("the life of St John Berchmans") (1888), and "T’ perghjamit e Zojs Bekume" ("Imitation of the Holy Virgin") (1892), a translation from Spanish, "Katekizmi i madh" ("the great catechism"), another translation, …

Pjetër Budi, known in Italian as "Pietro Budi", was the author of four religious works in Albanian.

Johann Georg von Hahn (born 11 July 1811 in Frankfurt am Main; died 23 September 1869 in Jena) was an Austrian diplomat, philologist and specialist in Albanian history, language and culture. In 1847, Hahn was named Austrian consul in Ioannina. He was transferred to Syros in 1851, and from 1869 was the consul-general in Athens. He is considered the founder of Albanian studies. He assembled and published source materials on Albanian language and culture, …

Ali Podrimja is a distinguished Albanian poet. He was born in Đakovica, at the foot of the Albanian Alps (the so-called 'Mountains of the Damned'), in Kosovo, then in the Italian-controlled Fascist Albania. After a difficult childhood, he studied Albanian language and literature in Priština. Author of over a dozen volumes of cogent and assertive verse since 1961, he is recognized both in Kosovo and in Albania itself as a leading and innovative poet.

Pal Engjëlli was an Albanian Catholic clergyman, Archbishop of Durrës and Cardinal of Albania who in 1462 wrote the first known sentence in Albanian.

Unikkatil (born in 1981) (birth name Viktor Palokaj, also known as Rebel is a rapper and producer from Prishtina, Kosova who proclaims himself the "King" of the Albanian hip-hop scene. He has been a prolific pioneer of "Shqip Rap" (Albanian Rap) since his beginnings in 1994. Unikkatil has continued producing successful tunes while living in the Bronx, New York.

Pyrros Dimas ; Albanian: Pirro Dhima; born October 13, 1971), is a Greek weightlifter and three-time Olympic champion for Greece. Dimas was born in Himara, Albania (Northern Epirus) of Greek descent, and emigrated to Greece in 1991. He first competed for Greece in the 1992 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in the 82.5 kg class. His birthplace gave rise to his nickname "The Lion of Himara".

Fatos Kongoli (born 1944) has recently become one of the most forceful and convincing representatives of contemporary Albanian prose. He was born and raised in Elbasan and studied mathematics in China during the tense years of the Sino-Albanian alliance. Kongoli chose not to publish any major works during the dictatorship. Rather than this, he devoted his creative energies at the time to an obscure and apolitical career as a mathematician, and waited for the storm to pass.

Girolamo de Rada (1814-1903), known in Albanian as "Jeronim de Rada", is not only the best known writer of Italo-Albanian literature but also the foremost figure of the Albanian nationalist movement in nineteenth-century Italy. Born the son of a parish priest of Greek rite in Macchia Albanese (Alb. "Maqi") in the mountains of Cosenza, De Rada attended the college of Saint Adrian in San Demetrio Corone. Already imbued with a passion for his Albanian lineage, …

Zacharie or Zecharia Mayani (1899 - ?) is a prominent French author who suggests that Albanian had ancient pre-Indo-European connections with Etruscan in "The Etruscans Begin to Speak" (1961, translated by Patrick Evans 1962). Mayani's thesis, relying chiefly on Albanian, claimed to have established some of the grammar, and enlarged the known vocabulary, of ancient Etruscan, taking as his starting-point that Etruscan was based on Illyrian, …

Masiela Lusha (born 23 October, 1985) is an Albanian-born actress and writer. She was born in Tirana, Albania and her family moved to the United States when she was seven. At the age of twelve, she published a book of her poetry written in both Albanian and English. She became an actress and played Carmen Lopez in the first five seasons of ABC's "The George Lopez Show". Her character on the show also writes poetry.

Din Mehmeti is among the best-known classical representatives of contemporary verse in Kosovo. He was born in 1932 in the village of Gjocaj i Junikut near Đakovica, Kosovo, in Yugoslavia. He studied Albanian language and literature at the University of Belgrade. He later lectured at the teacher training college in Đakovica. Although he has published some prose, literary criticism and a play, …

Eric P. Hamp is an American linguist. Born November 16 1920, he received his PhD from Harvard University in 1950s and since then he taught at the University of Chicago where he is Robert Maynard Hutchins Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Departments of Linguistics, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Psychology (Cognition and Communication) and the Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World).

Eqrem Basha is among the most respected contemporary writers of Kosovo in recent years. He was born in Dibra in the western Albanian-speaking region of what is now the Republic of Macedonia, but his life and literary production are intimately linked to Kosovo and its capital Priština, where he has lived and worked for the past three decades. It was in the early 1970s, during the only real years of freedom in Kosovo, …

Alajdin Demiri (born December 19, 1954 in Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia) is famous for his role as mayor in the 1997 uprising in Tetovo and Gostivar, by ethnic Albanians in which he was later sentenced to 2 years in prison for. From 1973 until 1977, he studied Sociology in Sarajevo, Bosnia. From 1977 to 1978, he worked in Skopje for the television station as a reporter and political commentator in the Albanian-language department.

Dhimiter Kamarda (1821 - 1882) was a linguist, patriot of the Arberesh, and publisher of folklore, with scientific knowledge also in the field of Indo-European linguistics. His main work, "Test of Comparative Grammar on Albanian Language" is the first scientific work of comparative historic study on the topic. He made an important contribution with the publication of "The Albanian General Alphabet" in 1869.

Hasan Zyko Kamberi was a distinguished aljamiado writer of Albanian literature.

Nezim Frakulla (ca. 1680-1760), alternatively known as "Nezim Berati" or "Ibrahim Nezimi", was the first major poet among the Bejtexhinj, popular poets in the Muslim tradition who wrote in Albanian but used Arabic script. He was born in the village of Frakull near Fier and lived a good deal of his life in Berat, a flourishing centre of Muslim culture at the time. Frakulla studied in Istanbul where he wrote his first poetry in Turkish, …

Franc Miklošič, Slovenia, then a part of Austria. He graduated at the University of Graz as a doctor of philosophy, and was for a time professor of philosophy there. In 1838 he went to Vienna, where he took the degree of doctor of law. He devoted himself, however, to the study of Slavonic languages, abandoned the law, and obtained a post in the imperial library, where he remained from 1844 to 1862.

Giuseppe Serembe, Italo-Albanian lyric poet, known in Albanian as Zef Serembe, was a restless soul destined to bear the heavy burden of human suffering. The atmosphere of despair and tragedy that haunted him throughout his life surfaces time and time again in his verse. Serembe was born in San Cosmo Albanese (Alb. Strigari) in the Calabrian province of Cosenza and studied at the college of Saint Adrian.

Aida Ndoci is an Albanian singer who represented her country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Hear My Plea" (originally titled "Balada e Gurit" [Ballad of Stone] in Albanian). She will performed it together with her husband, Frederik Ndoci, although only Frederick was credited with the performance.

Cosmas of Aetolia (Greek: Κοσμάς Αιτωλός/Kosmas Aitolos) (1714 - 1779) was a monk in the Greek Orthodox Church. He was born in the Greek village Mega Dendron in the region of Aetolia. He studied Greek and Theology before becoming a monk after a trip to Mount Athos where he also attended the local Theological Academy. Afterwards, he traveled through what would form theareas of both West Greece and Northern Greece urging Orthodox Christians to establish schools.

Mario Bellizzi, a poet of the Albanian-speaking Arbëresh minority of southern Italy, was born in San Basile in the province of Cosenza. His verse has appeared in various Arbëresh periodicals in southern Italy, as well as in Kosovo and Albania. Bellizzi currently lives in Trebisacce on the Gulf of Taranto. Among his verse collections are: "Who are We Now?", Peć 1997; and "Last Exit to Bukura Morea", Castrovillari 2003.

Blerim Džemaili (Albanian: Blerim Xhemajli; born 12 April 1986 in Tetovo, Macedonia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Swiss football midfielder of Albanian origin who started his career at Swiss side FC Zürich. There he was part of the 2005-06 and 2006-2007 Swiss Championship winning team.

Ziad Youssef Fazah (born June 10, 1954 in Monrovia, Liberia) is reputed to be the world's most accomplished hyperpolyglot. It is said that he speaks, reads and understands 58 languages, most of which learned before the age of 20. His skills have been successfully tested on TV shows around the world by speakers of such languages as Mongolian, Czech, Korean and Hungarian. Raised in Lebanon, he has lived in Brazil since the 1970s.

Goran "Guri" Radosavljević is a Serbian police general and champion. He was the first commander of Serbian special police unit Žandarmerija. He was born in 1957 in Aranđelovac, Serbia and graduated from the faculty for physical culture. He has worked in the Serbian ministry of the interior since 1985. He initially taught special combat, and then became head of the relevant department. When the war started in the former Yugoslavia, …

Rami Saari (b. 1963, Petah Tikva, Israel) is a poet, translator, linguist and literary critic. He studied and taught Semitic and Uralic Languages at the Universities of Helsinki, Budapest and Jerusalem and got his PhD degree in Linguistics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2003). His doctoral thesis, "Maltese Prepositions", was published in 2003 by Carmel Publishing House. By January 2006 Saari has published seven books and translated more than forty books, …

George Ghica (Greek: "Georgios Gikas"; Romanian: "Gheorghe Ghika" or "Ghica", Albanian: "Gjergj Gjika") March 3 1600 - November 2 1664), founder of the Ghica family (of possible Aromanian origins), was Prince of Moldavia in 1658-1659 and Prince of Wallachia in 1659-1660 George Ghica is said to have been a playmate of another Albanian known to history as Ktipruli Aga, the famous vizier, …

Shpendi Sollaku Noé is a professor, journalist and poet. Noé studied Albanian language and literature. Since 1992 he has lived in Italy as a political refugee. He is active as a translator, mainly from Italian, Russian and Albanian. The author keeps relationships with newspapers and reviews. His works are translated in many languages. We most notice too his activity forward the protection of the human rights, especially for emigrants and politic exiles.