Selfixhe Ciu

Selfixhe Ciu (married name Selfixhe Broja, pen name Kolombja, born in Gjirokastër in 1918, died in Tirana in 2003) was an Albanian writer and the first Albanian woman writer to ever publish literature in Albania. On 28 November 1935, when she was only 17, Selfixhe Ciu published under the plume name Kolombja, a poem on the Populli newspaper.^[1]

Ciu was friends with Musine Kokalari, the first Albanian woman to publish a novel, as well as with Qemal Stafa, and Albanian communist. She was studying in Florence, Italy, when the Italian invasion of Albania occurred, in 1939. She then returned to Albania with her husband, Xhemal Broja, and opened with him a book store in Shkodër. She joined the ranks of the Communist Party of Albania, and was one of the organizers of an illegal antifascist demonstration in February 22, 1942. For that she was arrested and condemned to death, but then later released. After World War II, in 1947, she was imprisoned, then exiled by the communist communist regime. Her husband, Xhemal Broja, followed her into internment. In 1998 Ciu published her memories, as well as poetry and other publications, into a book, entitled Tallazet e jetes (lang-en|Winds of life}}).^[2]