Drago Siliqi

After he returned to Albania from his studies, he became an editor and, later, a publisher and literary critic at the state owned Naim Frashëri Publishing House. There, he encouraged writers such as Ismail Kadare through his literary reviews. He also led the company to publish more translations of foreign literary works into Albanian through the hiring of affirmed writers. Siliqi died in 1963, at the age of 33, on board Aeroflot Flight 12 which crashed near Irkutsk, Soviet Union.

He died on July 13, 1963, flying from China to Albania, when Aeroflot Flight 12 crashed in the vicinity of the Siberian city of Irkutsk, Soviet Union. The crash killed 33 passengers and crew. Casualties included Siliqi, as well as six other Albanians.

After graduating, he returned to Albania and then, during 1957-1963 he worked as editor and then director of the Naim Frashëri Publishing House, where, as a literary critic, he was key into helping fully develop as writers some of the most notable post-World War II Albanian authors, such as Ismail Kadare, Dritëro Agolli, Fatos Arapi, Petro Marko, Qamil Buxheli [sq], Dhori Qiriazi [sq], and Vangjush Ziko [sq]. He encouraged and assisted Ismail Kadare to write The General of the Dead Army.

Drago Siliqi (9 June 1930–13 July 1963) was an Albanian poet, literary critic, and publisher. At the age of 14 he became a scout and then a partisan of the National Liberation Movement. He published his first collection of poetry, and then pursued university studies at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow.

Drago Siliqi was born on June 9, 1930 in Tirana, Albania. Nephew of the Albanian National Awakening activist and poet Risto Siliqi, in 1944 Drago became a scout and then a partisan of the National Liberation Movement.