Esad Mekuli, a poet, academic, and translator, and the founder of the literary magazine “Jeta e re” (“New Life”), passed away in Prishtina. He was born in Plavë, Montenegro, in 1916. He completed high school in Pejë and studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Belgrade. As a young man, he was actively involved in the progressive student movement during the 1930s in then-Yugoslavia. Mekuli was an active participant in the National Liberation War and served as the editor of the illegal newspaper “Liria” (“Freedom”). After the war, he became the responsible editor of the newspaper “Rilindja” (“Renaissance”). From 1949 until his retirement, he was the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine “Jeta e Re.” He was also the first president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo from 1975 to 1979 and served as the editor-in-chief of the “Enciklopedia Jugosllave për Kosovën” (“Yugoslav Encyclopedia for Kosovo”). Throughout his career, he was a corresponding member of several academies of sciences and arts in the Balkans. Mekuli began writing and publishing poetry while he was a high school student in Pejë and continued to publish in the Serbian language as a student, contributing to various newspapers and magazines in Belgrade, Zagreb, and Sarajevo during the 1930s. He published his first poem in 1932, and his first volume of poetry, “Për ty” (“For You”), was released in 1955. He followed this with several other collections, including “Dita e re” (“New Day”) (1966), “Vjersha” (“The Poem”) (1974), “Rini e kuqe” (“Red Youth”) (1984), and “Drita që nuk shuhet” (“Light That Does Not Go Out”) (1989). His work reflects a deep love for his homeland and a vision for its future. After liberation, Mekuli was initially enthusiastic and optimistic about the future, but he later grew concerned, disappointed, and depressed by the obstacles to achieving his vision. As the disappointments experienced by the Albanian people in Kosovo mounted over the years, his poetic muse became increasingly somber and melancholic. In addition to his poetry, Esad Mekuli translated significant works from Serbo-Croatian into Albanian and from various Slavic languages, as well as translating many Albanian authors, including Ismail Kadare, Anton Pashku, and Azem Shkreli, into Serbian. His contributions to literature and culture have left a lasting impact on the literary landscape of the region. (In the photo: Esad Mekuli)
Text: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 1092–1093.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esad_Mekuli
Graphic processing: AHCF
