Born in 1965 in the Malësi e Madhe District of northern Albania, Marinaj started his writing career as a restricted correspondent publishing in a number of Albanian media outlets, first in local newspapers in Shkodra, then in a series of Albanian national publications including Zëri i Rinisë, Luftëtari, Vullnetari, and Drita. In August 1990, Marinaj published an anti-communist satiric poem entitled "Horses" and aware of his imminent arrest from the communist regime, on September 12, 1990, Marinaj escaped authorities by illegally crossing the Albanian-Yugoslavian border and fled first to Yugoslavia and later on to the United States. He arrived in San Diego in July 1991, then went to Richardson, Texas. In 2001, Marinaj founded the Albanian-American Writers Association and served as president until 2009.
Marinaj published his poem entitled "Horses" in the Albanian paper of record, Drita, which at first glance it read like a simple poem about farm animals, but was actually a satirical social and political commentary about the Albanian people being herded and corralled by an oppressive communist regime. "Horses" appeared in Drita on August 19, 1990, and the response was immediate and overwhelming. The sheer audacity of publishing such a clearly subversive poem in a national publication amazed the Albanians. " Within hours, copies of Drita sold out across the country, so people took to scrawling the poem on scraps of paper and passing it to one another in the subways and on the streets and months later, protesters chanted the poem through megaphones during anti-government demonstrations. Seen from this point of view, "Marinaj's words inspired freedom, helped defeat communism in Albania." Nevertheless, "having seen other poets hanged in the city's center for voicing similar notions of freedom and liberty, Marinaj knew that he had to leave the country immediately; packed a few of his favorite books, told his friends and family that he was going on vacation, and set off on an eight-hour hike over the mountains and into Yugoslavia."
The University of Texas at Dallas awarded Marinaj a PhD in 2012. His dissertation which focus on the history and philosophy of oral poetry in the Balkans and on the Translation Theory is titled "Oral Poetry in Albanian and Other Balkan Cultures: Translating the Labyrinths of Untranslatability".
Protonism Theory
According to The Dallas Morning News, Marinaj's "Protonism Theory" seeks to "promote peace and positive thinking" through literary criticism. Protonism Theory proposes that there are strong and weak points in every piece of literature but argues that a critic's personal interests and biases influence how much focus those points receive. Marinaj founded the Protonism Theory in 2005 as a response to the flood of unduly negative criticism in East European academia following the collapse of communism and as a response, he developed Protonism to provide a common ground from which critics could evaluate a literary work more objectively. Protonism works along five central principles: truth, inquiry, restitution, protonismiotics, and ethics.
Current Occupation
Marinaj teaches English and Communications, among other courses, at Richland College, since 2001.
Published books
Marinaj has published several books of poetry, journalism, and literary criticism. His three books of poetry include Mos më ik larg, Infinit, and Lutje në ditën e tetë të javës. In addition, he has published a book of author interviews titled Ana tjetër e pasqyrës, a book of selected articles and essays titled Ca gjëra nuk mund të mbeten sekret, and one book of literary criticism titled Protonizmi: nga teoria në praktikë.
Translations
Marinaj, who has served as guest editor of the Translation Review, has translated several books from English to Albanian, and two from Albanian to English, including a collection of Albanian oral epic poetry and has edited more than a dozen books in both languages.
Recognitions and critical reception
Marinaj is a recipient of the Pjetër Arbnori Prize for literature from QNK, part of the Albanian Ministry of Culture, in 2008.
