We’re all going to Kosovo soon! If you want to go in with more than a map and a passport stamp, books are one of the best ways to start understanding the country, its history, and the people you’ll meet along the way. With the help of our partners, we’ve put together this list of books. All optional, of course!
We tried to prioritize books written by Kosovars themselves, especially women, but it wasn’t easy. So much of Kosovo’s story lives in oral history and Albanian-language work that’s never been translated. Between displacement, exile, and how little has been written about the country in English, some of what’s below comes from outside voices simply because the options are limited. Some of these books might also not be available online.
Historical and Political Context
“History Is Herstory Too: The History of Women in Civil Society in Kosovo, 1980–2004″ – Kosovar Gender Studies Center. A history of Kosovo told through the women who organized, resisted, and rebuilt civil society across two decades of upheaval. We’ll be meeting some of the women from the Kosovar Gender Studies Center on this trip, so this one’s a great primer before that conversation.
“Albanian Women Writers 1954–1990” – edited by Meliza Krasniqi. An anthology tracing decades of Albanian women’s literature, much of it written under conditions that made simply publishing an act of defiance.
“Kosovo: A Short History” by Noel Malcolm. The standard reference for understanding Kosovo’s history from the medieval period through the 20th century. Dense, but essential if you want the long view before the war.
“Kosovo: War and Revenge” by Tim Judah. A close, on-the-ground account of the 1998–99 war and its aftermath, written by a journalist who covered it as it happened.
“Tell It to the World” by Elliot Behar. Written by a war crimes prosecutor who worked on Kosovo cases, this one traces how atrocities get investigated, documented, and (sometimes) brought to justice. A different angle on the war than most accounts.
Memoirs and Testimonies
“Thirrje e Kosovës” (Call of Kosovo) and “Call Me By My Name” by Flora Brovina. Brovina is a poet, pediatrician, and political prisoner; she was jailed during the war for her activism. Her poetry sits right at the intersection of the personal and the political.
“I Am Anemone” – co-authored by Salie Gajtani Osmankaq. A documentation of testimonies from survivors of wartime sexual violence in Kosovo. Not an easy read, but an important one. These are stories that were silenced for a long time.
“Girlhood at War” by Vjosa Musliu. A memoir of growing up in Kosovo during the war years, told from a perspective rarely centered in the history books: a girl coming of age while her country came apart.
“The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo” by Paula Huntley. An American teacher’s account of starting a book club with her students in postwar Pristina. A window into what daily life and rebuilding looked like in the years right after the war.
Literature and Fiction
“Bolla” by Pajtim Statovci. A novel spanning decades and continents, following the story of a Kosovar from the LGBTQ+ community from the years before the war onward.
“My Cat Yugoslavia” by Pajtim Statovci. Statovci again, this time following a Kosovar family’s move to Finland: it touches upon the displacement and identity struggles that many Kosovars went through.
“Glimmer of Hope, Glimmer of Flame” by Ag Apolloni. A documentary novel from one of Kosovo’s leading contemporary writers, grappling with the weight of war and what comes after.
“Born from Ashes” by Kaltrina Zeneli. A story of survival and rebuilding, set against the backdrop of postwar Kosovo.
“The Reunion” by Iliriana Rama-Allajbegu. A novel exploring family, separation, and what it means to come back together after being pulled apart.
We will also take you to visit local bookstores with books written in English during our time in Kosovo. But if you’d like to start learning about the country before your arrival, this is what we recommend. Make sure to also check out our Kosovo packing list!
