by Aga Ymeri. Translation Petrit Latifi

Alush Canaj was born on August 24, 1952 in the village of Koretin in Kamenica, Dardana today. In 1956, at the time of Serbian terror, in the famous action of arms and the displacement of Albanians to Turkey, his family settled in Gjilan.

Alush Canaj completed his primary school in “Musa Zajmi” of this city. Later he enrolled in the “Zenel Hajdini” Gymnasium in Gjilan. He was a children’s poet. His writings were published in literary and artistic periodicals published in Pristina and Skopje: in “Pionieri”, “Rilindja për bëmështë”, “Gëzim”, “Fatosi” and elsewhere.

The young poet Alush Canaj was killed in 1972.

He was persecuted and tortured by the system of the time. Beqir Musliiu, at a literary meeting for Alush Canaj, in 1992 had publicly said: “Alush was killed, just as Rexhep Elmaz and other poets were killed. Alush Canaj’s writings were compiled in the work titled “Last night I kissed freedom”, prepared by our famous writer, namely his brother, Avdush Canaj, published by the “Faik Konica” Publishing House, Prishtina, 2018.

“Every time I passed by on my way to the Arbëria neighborhood of Gjilan, in the 80s, near the city’s graves, a photo of a young boy on a tombstone caught my eye. Beautiful, as if he was looking at me with dreamy eyes. I have never passed by without feeling a pang of sadness. Later I realized that this young man had been Alush Canaj the poet or Uragan interupted”, says a quote dedicated to him.