Kadrush Radogoshi

Poet, author, playwright and teacher Kadrush Radogoshi is facing his toughest challenge yet – an entire language.

The NorQuest College English as a Second Language (ESL) student has done very well adjusting to Canada since arriving from Kosovo in 2010. However, despite steady advancement within the LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) and ESL programs, his efforts to diversify his verbal and writing skills are still just beginning.

“My goal is to be integrated fully into the literary world of Canada and to publish in English,” says Radogoshi.

He has penned works in all genres including poetry (eight collections) literary criticisms (four books), short stories, essays, fiction and non-fiction novels, and one play. His efforts include stories of political persecution – a subject he knows well.  In 1982, while working as a high school teacher in his home country, he was imprisoned and for 18 years wasn’t allowed to work as a teacher due to his political views.

Now, living in a country where freedom of speech is accepted and encouraged, Radogoshi is eager to write new stories and to republish his existing works for a North American audience.

“I am trying to write some poetry in English and right now I am able to translate from English to Albanian, Croatian and Serbian,” he says. “From those languages to English is a little more hard, but in the future I will try.”

Of note: Radogoshi was a feature author at Edmonton’s Litfest 2103 where he and three other foreign-trained writers took part in the Four-by-Four: Writers on the Borderlines session.

“I told them after Litfest that my English is from NorQuest and everything I learned I have learned here. NorQuest has helped me a lot.”