Today, the silence ends. | ||||
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When I was a child, the loudest thing in our home was the music no one could hear. My fingers moved across a keyboard my parents had drawn on paper, and in my mind every note rang out. Today, the story I could only play in silence is finally out loud, and in your hands. Today is also Election Day. Where I was born, there were ballots but no choice. Whatever you decide today, I hope you decide it freely and without fear. That is a gift my grandparents never had. | ||||
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The day has finally arrived. Beneath the Silence is officially available today. These pages carry the stories of my family, the names that were nearly forgotten, and the music that carried me through it all. I hope you will read it, share it, and help these stories reach beyond the pages of this book. | ||||
| ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY → | ||||
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Thank you for being part of this extraordinary day. Elida Dakoli | ||||
Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube #BeneathTheSilence | ||||
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BENEATH THE SILENCE · THE NAMES A REGIME TRIED TO ERASE EXPLORE THE BOOK | ORDER NOW |
THE BLOG
Nov
Nov
Four generations. Decades of silence.
One story that could no longer stay buried.
In my family, silence was not a choice. It was a way to survive.
Under dictatorship, some memories were safer left unspoken. I grew up among names no one said aloud and questions no one dared to ask.
What my family could not say, they kept another way. My parents drew a keyboard on paper, and I learned to play on keys that made no sound.
Music became the one language
the silence could not reach.
For years, I carried those unspoken names with me, onto every stage.
In time, I understood that the silence that protected one generation could erase the history of the next. And so I began to write.
On November 3, 2026, my memoir, Beneath the Silence: The Names a Regime Tried to Erase, will be released nationwide.
It is the story of those names, and of the music that kept them.
A story that began in Albania and belongs to anyone who has ever been asked to forget.
With a foreword by Ambassador Aldona Z. Woś
Post Hill Press · Simon & Schuster
The keys were paper.
The music was real.
On November 3
My book arrives on the same day Americans go to the polls.
I find meaning in that. Where I was born, there were elections but no choice, and the most dangerous thing a person could do was say what they believed.
I know what happens when a government can determine what people may own, say, believe, and remember.
On November 3, millions of Americans will do what my grandparents never could: choose freely, and without fear. Whatever their choices, that is something I will never take for granted.
Bring Beneath the Silence to Your City
In the months ahead, I will travel with Beneath the Silence: An Evening of Story and Sound, an evening of live piano and spoken memoir, followed by conversation and a book signing.
Dallas, Texas · October 28 to November 1
Washington, D.C. · November 3 to 7
Boston, Massachusetts · Harvard University · December 1 to 4
Miami, Florida · December 18 to 22
New York, New York · January 15 to 18
Denver, Colorado · February 12 to 16
Boston, Massachusetts · Harvard University · March 28 to April 1
West Branch, Iowa · Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and area universities · April, TBD
Dallas, Texas · Home · Flexible dates throughout the season
The calendar is still taking shape. If your museum, library, university, school, or community would like to welcome an evening in one of these cities, or in your own, we would be honored to review the dates that come our way.
If your city is not yet on the list, we would be glad to plan a new evening together, in any city or state, with enough time to prepare it well.
From Silence to Sound
Over the coming weeks, I will share the family photographs, stories behind the pages, interviews, and conversations that brought this memoir into the world. I would be honored to have you join me.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Elida Dakoli
Author · Concert Pianist · Educator · Advocate
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