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] A Woman from Tirana (1990) is the novel of Kadare's that is perhaps her most widely read.

Kadare was born in Fier, in southern 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][3]

She has written numerous short stories.^[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).^[4] Her novel Një grua nga Tirana, issued in Tirana in 1994. has been translated into French (Une femme de Tirana, 1995), Dutch (Een vrouw uit Tirana, 1996) and German (Eine Frau aus Tirana, 2009), as well as into English (A woman from Tirana).^[4][5]

Kadare has lived in Paris, France, with her husband, the writer Ismail Kadare, since 1990.^[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.^[7]

• Një lindje e vështirë (A Difficult Birth), novel, 1970
• Një grua nga Tirana (A Woman from Tirana), novel, 1990 ISBN 99927-45-13-4
• Bashkëshortët (Spouses), novel, 2002 ISBN 99927-45-77-0
• Le temps qui manque mémoires, 2010
• Kohë e pamjaftueshme (Insufficient Time), novel, 2011 ISBN 978-99956-87-51-9
• Një grua në Berlin: Ditar 20 prill - 22 Qershor 1945 (A Woman in Berlin - Anonymous (Diary April 20 - June 22, 1945), 2016

• Albanian literature

• Kadare, Helena. Kohë e pamjaftueshme, Tirana: Onufri, 2011. ISBN 978-9995687519 (Also available in French)

• Biography, by Robert Elsie
• National Library of Albania
• Works of Helena Kadare