Helena "Elena" Kadare (née Gushi; born 21 September 1943) is an Albanian screenwriter, translator and author of short stories and novels.
[2][3] One of the latter, 1970's Një lindje e vështirë, is the first novel by a woman to have been published in Albania.
[4] She studied literature at the University of Tirana,[4] and then worked in journalism and as an editor in the publishing industry.
[4] She also wrote the first full-length novel ever to have been published in Albanian that was the work of a woman: Një lindje e vështirë, issued in Tirana in 1970 (A Difficult Birth).
[6] Their daughter, Besiana Kadare, is the Albanian Ambassador to the United Nations, a Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly for its 75th session, and Albania's Ambassador to Cuba.