Luljeta Lleshanaku, born in 1968 in Elbasan, will be honoured with the Horst‑Bienek Poetry Prize, a 10,000‑Euro award presented by the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. The prize recognises her clear, precise verse that intertwines personal memory with historical experience, according to the jury’s statement.
Raised under Enver Hoxha’s communist regime, Lleshanaku could only study after its collapse. She now leads the Institute for the Study of the Communist Genocide in Tirana, while her poems have earned multiple accolades and translations into many languages. In 2009 she received the Kristal‑Vilenica Prize, and in 2019 she was a finalist for the GRIFFIN International Poetry Prize.
The award ceremony will also present the Horst‑Bienek Förderpreis for Poetry to Ukrainian poet Halyna Kruk, who will receive 5,000 € for her work that reflects the hardships of war and resilience. Kruk, born in 1974 in Lviv, teaches Ukrainian literature and writes children’s books.
Both prizes will be presented on Wednesday, 2 December 2026 at 19:00. Andrea Grill will deliver the laudation for Lleshanaku, while Ulrike Almut Sandig will speak for Kruk. The awards are funded by the estate of Horst Bienek, who died in 1990 in Munich and left the Academy a foundation to support literary excellence.