Prime Minister Edi Rama has once again presented himself to the public with a book. This time, he has written "At the Monday Table," a collection of speeches he delivered during Iftar dinners.
In an interview with Monika Stafa on "Exclusive" on Top Channel, he says he wrote the book also because of his love for the beautiful Albanian language. Rama also talks about the books he reads, the only writer he has met, and episodes from the communist era when they were forced to read banned books in secret.
Stafa: Mr. Prime Minister, first I wanted to congratulate you on your book "At the Monday Table," not so much as the author of some speeches you gave during Iftar dinners, but perhaps because I liked the reason you published it more. I did, as you said in a podcast back in November, because of Albanian. I have never heard any author find such a reason to write, except Ismail Kadare...
Edi Rama: That is one way of looking at it, but I believe the way I see it is simply a man who is in love with the language and who finds in the mother tongue reasons to write it, which excites me even when I write a simple message to someone I communicate with or even when I used to write comments in response to people on Facebook. So, it is love for the Albanian language. I have no possibility to compare myself with Ismail Kadare or anyone else, but I simply love the Albanian language, I enjoy writing it, and it makes me very happy when what I write remains printed, published in a book.
Stafa: One day I went to the Babel bookstore, to the shelf where Arlinda had placed your book. There were two gentlemen there, one approached me and said this author who wrote this book... I had him as a classmate in art. He was the only one who would secretly bring books, put them in his jacket, and read them to us and discuss them. He works in a sculptor's studio today... Did you love books so much that you would take them secretly and discuss them with friends?
Edi Rama: Here we are talking about the time when there were many banned books, not about books that were available to everyone. At that time, there were many banned books. ...And we found all sorts of ways to access banned books, stories that are unbelievable today. For example, I remember how we once saw a book by Cézanne, Cézanne is one of those forerunners of the epochal transformation in painting, who practically paved the way for those who came and were called cubists. And the book came into our hands after we previously received information that it was in a house, in that house there was a girl who was connected to a boy, and the boy was a friend of a friend, and through the boy, we managed to access the girl, who took the book from her father's library, but set the condition that the book had to be returned before 3 o'clock. Because her father would return home and if he noticed the absence of this book, which being a banned book was somehow a kind of bomb, then he would be worried. We were at school, we were far from the house, we couldn't leave school to see the book. And the book was placed in the bathroom, in that upper part of the bathroom, I don't know what it's called in Albanian where the water collects. And it was exactly like that scene of Al Pacino's revolver in the restaurant in "The Godfather," where he invites that police chief to meet for dinner to make a deal and then goes to the bathroom, takes the revolver, and kills him. And we would leave the classroom one by one, look at the book, and return to the classroom. These are unbelievable things today, but at that time they were the reason why we constantly tried and were also the motive that inspired us to engage in painting, to engage in art, and to nurture the dream that we would make a name for ourselves.
Stafa: Today, do you have time to read and what do you read?
Edi Rama: To tell the truth, today everything has changed and it's not just for me but for the vast majority of people. Those who still have the ability and strength to isolate themselves to continue reading books regularly are very lucky. Meanwhile, I read, but not systematically anymore. And for a long time now, I have been focused only on some directions related to what I do, because I need to read more due to duty than desire or curiosity. And certainly, I read part in books, while a not small part I read through my phone.
Stafa: Do you meet Albanian writers, friends, and such?
Edi Rama: I met Ismail Kadare a few times, until he passed away, but otherwise no.
Stafa: ...I have followed the passion you have for art and especially knowledge. Apart from the knowledge you gain from knowledge, what other relationship do you have with knowledge, besides knowledge?
Edi Rama: For me, it is curiosity, it is not academic passion, it is not the will to learn, but it is curiosity and of course it becomes the will to learn again when I have to learn because of the duty I have, I have to read and understand things that are part of my earlier formation. There is nothing special in all this, I am just very much in love with the Albanian language, I like Albanian extremely much, it is amazing. And I feel great pleasure when I am given the opportunity to play with the words of the Albanian language. And then the other part that has to do with the book, I generally have curiosity, reading more precisely. Because now the book in the classical sense is only one part of reading, the other part as you said is digital, or for work reasons.
Stafa: In one of your speeches, you said that it is the path to spirituality.
Edi Rama: There I am generally focused on holy books and to tell the truth, the search for words in the Quran has been curiosity to understand Islam a little better and to verify with my own eyes and mind things that became concerning at one time regarding Islam. And Islam is absolutely extraordinary, meanwhile, the holy book the Bible, I had it in hand and read it a long time ago, in the time of banned books. But the Quran, no. With the Quran, I met much later, much later and after it became an allowed book.