Author

Meilak was born in Victoria, Gozo and studied at the Central School. She joined government service in 1925 and from 1944 she taught in the secondary schools of Gozo till she retired in 1962.

Since her early years at the Rabat schools, Meilak showed great talent in writing verses on a variety of themes around her. These early poems brought her to the limelight in Maltese literary circles.

Her first poem in Maltese was ‘Faxx Nemel’ (1930) which appeared in the Pronostku Malti (1931) under the pseudonym of ‘Qamar Ġdid’. This encouraged her to write more poetry and she won several poetry contests. She is the only Gozitan female poet. In December 1937 she became a member of the Akkademja tal-Malti.

Meilak wrote poems, essays, novels, and a number of short stories on the different towns and villages; an operetta, ‘Leone u Stella’, and two five-act operas, ‘Il-Miġja ta’ San Pawl’  and ‘L-1565’, all in verse.

The outstanding feature of Meilak’s poetry is the monorhyme characteristic of Arabic poetry.

This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.