# Faik Konica's Albania Review (1897)

URL: https://allhistories.com/albania/timeline/1897-faik-konica-s-albania-review
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Themes: Key Events

With publication in Albanian banned in the Ottoman Empire, the national movement depended on journals printed abroad. Faik Konica (1875–1942), from Konitsa in Epirus, studied in France, graduating from the University of Dijon in 1895, and became one of the most brilliant stylists and critics of his generation. In Brussels, in 1896–1897, Konica began publishing the periodical Albania, written in Albanian and French. To evade Ottoman restrictions he used pseudonyms, including Trank Spiro Bey. The review carried political commentary, studies of language and history, and literary texts by Albanian writers, and was distributed to Albanians in the Ottoman Empire and the diaspora as well as to European readers. Konica later moved the publication to London, where he lived in 1903–1904, and it continued until 1909, when he departed for the United States. Albania spread awareness of the Albanian cause across Europe and was highly influential in refining Albanian prose, particularly in the southern dialect. Konica went on to edit Dielli and lead the Vatra federation in America, and later served as Albania's minister in Washington.

## Why it matters
Konica's Albania gave the national movement a sophisticated European voice and helped shape modern Albanian prose.

Ruler at the Time: [Abdul Hamid II](https://allhistories.com/albania/rulers/abdul-hamid-ii)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Faik Konica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faik_Konica)
- [Wikipedia — National Awakening And Independence (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_National_Awakening)