 Ismail Kadare defied simple categorisation. For much of his literary career, he was lauded as a potential Nobel Prize winner, but also criticised as a sycophant of the Albanian communist dictatorship in the 1960s and 80s. His stories are rooted in events and myths of his native Albania, but critics say his novels have a timeless relevance and universal appeal. Born in 1936 in Gjirokastër in southern Albania,