Eda Derhemi finished her undergraduate studies in Linguistics and Literature at the University of Tirana, Albania. She completed her graduate studies in Illinois, receiving a Master's degree in Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Communications from the University of Illinois at U-C. In 2001 she completed an internship working on indigenous languages and cultures of the world at the Office of Management of Social Transformation at UNESCO in Paris. In 2007 she conducted one year of Postdoc Research in Albania and Kosovo, with an Award from IREX working on the linguistic representation of ethnic conflict in Kosovar Media. In 2014 she was awarded a grant as a Fulbright Scholar for research and teaching in Albania on language and propaganda. She has extensive teaching, field-work and research experience in various countries and universities lecturing in language, linguistics, and media studies. In the years between her academic career in Albania and in the US, Eda worked as a correspondent for Deutsche Welle in Italy, and today she continues to write cultural and political opinion pieces in the main Albanian media.

In her free time, she enjoys writing short stories and poetry, translating, gardening, running and cooking (she normally runs during cooking, but seldom cooks during running). She loves good films of all times and the new films of the recently sovereign countries. A heavenly evening for her often includes a good slow-paced film and a glass of a berrylike chewy wine. Eda is an indefatigable traveler, and very devoted to her family, her friends, and the many communities she has lived in.