Born in Tirana, Albania, in 1955, Bashkim Shehu was in prison from the beginning of the eighties until the collapse of communism. Author of several books – novels and short stories – published in different European languages, translator of Isaiah Berlin, Hobsbowm, Steiner, J. S. Mill, Rawls, Czeslaw Milosz, Hannah Arendt, etc. he has lived in Spain since 1997, and is presently advisor for eastern Europe at the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona.