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Jeton Neziraj is a playwright from Kosovo. He was the Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Kosovo[citation needed] and now he is the Director of Qendra Multimedia, a cultural production company based in Prishtina.[1]
Neziraj has written over 25 plays that have been staged and performed in Europe as well as in the USA. His plays and his writings have been translated and published in more than 15 languages, such as: German,[2] English,[3] French, Italian, Slovak, Macedonian, Iranian, Slovenian, Croat, Romanian, Bosnian, Spanish, Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Greek etc.
As a playwright, he has worked and had his plays shown in various theatres, including La MaMa in New York, Volksbühne Berlin, Volkstheater Vienna, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Vidy Theater in Lausanne, National Theater of Kosovo, City Garage Theater in Los Angeles, National Theater of Montenegro, Turkish National Theater, etc.
"The plays of Jeton Neziraj are raucous, irreverent and absurdist. They invoke Ibsen, Molière and Kafka...”, The Guardian wrote about his work. While the German theatre magazine Theater der Zeit and the German Radio Deutschlandfunk Kultur have described him as ‘Kafka of the Balkans’. Los Angeles Times called him “a world- class playwright who challenges our complacency at every twist and turn”.
Neziraj is the author of many articles on cultural and political issues, published in local and international magazines and journals. He is also the author of various books, including a book on the famous Kosovar actor Faruk Begolli. Neziraj is the founder and the director of Qendra Multimedia, a cultural production company based in Pristina. He was also Professor of Dramaturgy at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Pristina during the year 2007–2008. He has given speeches and has run theater workshops at several festivals, conferences and universities throughout the world.[citation needed]
He is member of the European Cultural Parliament and Kosovo coordinator of the EURODRAM network.[citation needed] He was board member of Dokufest (Prizren), and Kosovo patron for the New Plays from Europe Festival in Wiesbaden.[citation needed]
