Esad Mekuli was born in Plav, Montenegro, a poet, academic, translator, and founder of the literary magazine “Jeta e re” (New Life). He completed high school in Peja and studied veterinary medicine in Belgrade. As a young man, he was involved in progressive student movements in the 1930s in Yugoslavia. He actively participated in the National Liberation War and served as an editor for the underground newspaper “Liria” (Freedom). After the war, he became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Rilindja” (“Rennaisance”). From 1949 until retirement, he was the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine “Jeta e re”. He served as the first president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo (1975–1979), editor-in-chief of the Yugoslav Encyclopedia for Kosovo, and corresponding member of several academies of sciences and arts in the Balkans. He began writing and publishing poetry while still a high school student in Peja, later as a student in Belgrade, in the Serbian language, in various newspapers and magazines in the 1930s. He published his first poem in 1932. His first poetic volume, “Për ty” (“For you”), was published in 1955. He subsequently published the following volumes: “Dita e re” (“New day”) (1966), “Vjersha” (“Poems”) (1974), “Rini e kuqe” (“Red youth”) (1984), “Drita që nuk shuhet” (“The light that does not go out”)(1989). His poetry is inspired by his love for his homeland and its future. After liberation, he was enthusiastic and optimistic about the future, but also worried and sometimes disappointed by the disappointment suffered by Albanian Kosovo over the years, which also affected Esad Mekuli’s poetic muse, making it melancholic and desperate at times. He translated several works and authors from Serbo-Croatian into Albanian, as well as many works and authors from Albanian into Serbian, including Ismail Kadare, Anton Pashku, Azem Shkreli, among others. He passed away in Pristina in 1993. (In the photo: Esad Mekuli)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 1092-1093.
Photo: © https://ashak.org/anetaret/esad-mekuli/
Graphic processing: AHCF
