The founding members are : Mireille Clapot, Catherine Lefèvre, Marie Manot, Julien Roche, Valérie Thomas.
As MP at the National Assembly from 2017 to 2024, Mireille Clapot chaired the France-Albania Parliamentary Friendship Group in the National Assembly and made numerous visits to Albania, both in her official capacity and privately.
A great admirer of Ismail Kadare, she wrote a Master’s thesis in comparative literature on the theme ‘Bridges in Balkan literature’, drawing on a corpus comprising Aeschylus’s The Persians, Ivo Andrić’s The Bridge on the Drina, and Ismail Kadare’s The Three-Arched Bridge. Her research, adapted into a novel, was published under the title From the Island of Diomedes, I will build this bridge (2018) by Editions ThoT, and has also been translated into Albanian and published under the title Nga ishulli i Diomedit do ta ngre këtë urë by Onufri (Tirana, Albania). Her subsequent books, Quatre dames (Four Ladies) (2020) published by ThoT and Le dompteur du Loup-Sentier au Liban (The tamer of the Wolf Trail in Lebanon) (2024) published by Les Impliqués éditeur, part of the L’Harmattan Group, also pay tribute to the work of Ismail Kadare. In May 2025, she founded the association ‘Les amis d’Ismail Kadare’, of which she is the president.
Catherine Lefèvre is an operational strategy consultant. During her travels in Albania, she discovered the country’s rich culture and its iconic writer, Ismail Kadare. In his work, she finds values and convictions that guide her in other voluntary commitments, such as the Cercle Pythagore. She is a member of the board of the association.
Marie Manot works as an administrative manager following a career in international project management. She is deeply involved in educational support organisations and initiatives to promote children’s literature. A literature enthusiast, she discovered Ismail Kadare and is now devouring his works. She is the association’s treasurer and manages the register of members and supporters: please send your contact details and membership fee to her.
Julien Roche is the best-known Frenchman in Albania. Originally from Bourg-en-Bresse, this talented businessman settled in Albania in the 1980s and has contributed to the development of relations between France and Albania, both economically and politically. He is a close friend of the Kadare family, whom he accompanied to Albania and when they settled in France. President of the Franco-Albanian Chamber of Commerce, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2015 and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Skanderbeg (Albania).
