photographed in a cafe in Tirana

Born on April 29, 1946, Vera Bekteshi was part of Albania’s first generation of nuclear physicists and worked successfully as a lecturer for six years at the Faculty of Physics. In 1974, her father, a high- ranking military officer and communist official from northern Albania during the war, was arrested as part of the operation known as the „Iron Broom.“

Following her father’s arrest, Vera experienced the full force of a repressive regime where no one was safe. She was abandoned by her husband after nine years of marriage, left alone to raise her young son, and lost her job. Together with her family, she was exiled from Tirana to Berat, where she lived in isolation, enduring social discrimination and extreme poverty for nearly 16 years.

After returning to Tirana in 1991, Vera began working at the Hydrometeorological Institute and completed her doctorate in 1997, which she had been forced to abandon due to her internment. Vera is the author of several books, including Vila me dy porta (The Villa with Two Doors, 2010), Ora me rërë (The Hourglass, 2016), and Pusulla të verdha (Yellow Notes, 2022). She has also published articles in Albanian newspapers focusing on her experiences during the internment period and is the recipient of several literary awards.