Migjeni

(pseudonym of Millosh Gjergj Nikolla). Born Oct. 13, 1911,inShkodër; died Aug. 26, 1938, in Torre Pellice, Turin, Italy. Albanian writer.

Migjeni was the son of a petty merchant. He graduated from a seminary in Bitola (Bitolj), Macedonia, in 1932. He contributed to the progressive magazine Bota e re (New World, 1936–37). A fervent patriot, Migjeni exposed in his writings the feudal-bourgeois regime of Zogu. In his collection Free Verses (1936), MÌgjenÌ called for a struggle against the exploiters; many of his works portray simple toilers and revolutionary youth. Migjeni’s work, which expressed his optimism and faith in the workers’ victory (the poem “Forbidden Fruit”) and affinity with the Soviet Union (the poem “Unsung Songs”), had a significant influence on modern Albanian literature.