Free: Coming of Age at the End of History – An Interview with Lea Ypi

At 11 years old, Lea Ypi was a Young Pioneer, helping to lead her country toward the future of perfect freedom promised by the leaders of her country, the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. Then, almost overnight, the Berlin Wall fell, and the pillars of her society toppled. The local statue of Stalin, whom she had believed to be a kindly leader who loved children, was beheaded by student protestors. Together with neighboring post-Communist states, Albania began a messy transition to join the “free markets” of the Western world: a dystopia of pyramid schemes, organized crime, and sex trafficking. Lea’s typical teen concerns about relationships and the future were shot through with the existential: the nation was engulfed in civil war.

In her memoir, Ypi weaves together a colorful, tumultuous coming-of-age story in a time of social upheaval with thoughtful, fresh, and invigorating perspective on the relation between the personal and the political. Her book triggers the questions: What does freedom consist of, and for whom? What conditions foster it? Who among us is truly free?

Free: Coming of Age at the End of History was the winner of several awards, among which the 2022 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and the 2021 Slightly Foxed First Biography Prize. It was named a Best Book by the Sunday Times, Spectator, Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman, Guardian, and Financial Times.

About the author
Lea Ypi is Professor of Political Theory at London School of Economics, and Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University, with expertise in Marxism and critical theory. She lives and works in London.

Lea Ypi will be interviewed by Jennifer Caspar, founder of the independent bookstore Village Well in Culver City, and Joes Segal, Chief Curator and Director of Programming at the Wende Museum.