(205 Words)
Gjekë Marinaj is an Albanian born American poet, writer, world literature scholar and translator, and literary critic, whose commitments as a 21st century world poet have inspired frequent comparisons with Pablo Neruda’s role in the 20th century.
He holds a Ph.D. in Humanities with a concentration in Studies in Literature and Literary Translation at the University of Texas at Dallas.
The founder of Protonism Theory, a form of arts criticism that aims to promote peace and positive thinking, Marinaj has published more than 25 books of poetry, journalism, criticism and translation. His works have been translated and published in more than two dozen languages.
He is the winner of dozens of literary awards across the globe. In addition to holding the title of Nation’s Ambassador, Albania’s highest cultural honor, he has received South Korea’s Suwon KS and Changwon KC International Literary Prizes, Uzbekistan’s Poet of the World Prize and India’s World Poet Prize. He has received multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Marinaj is the director of Mundus Artium Press, co-editor of Mundus Artium (a Journal of International Literature and the Arts), and a selection committee chairman for Gjenima Prize. An American citizen, Marinaj lives with his wife in McKinney in Richardson, Texas.