Albanian Authors

Mirko GASHI

Mirko Gashi (1939-1995), born in Kraljevo in Serbia, attended elementary school in Presheva and secondary school in Gjilan. He studied journalism in Belgrade and worked subsequently as a reporter for the newspaper Flaka e vëllazërimit (Flame of Brotherhood) in Skopje and for Radio Prishtina. He was much admired in the 1980s for his verse, which was compiled in particular in the collections: Gjarpëri i shtëpise, Prishtina 1980 (The House Snake); Arbor vitae, Prishtina 1988 (The Tree of Life); and Plagë uji, Prishtina 1990 (Water Wound). He also translated much Kosova Albanian literature into BCS (Serbo-Croatian). Always a rebel, and suffering increasingly from depression in later years, Gashi turned to alcohol for salvation and died of it in July 1995.