Vakeli

(pseudonym of lona Lukich Megrelidze). Born Nov. 15 (28), 1900, in the village of Bake. Soviet Georgian poet and playwright.

Vakeli began to publish in 1920. His first collection of poems, Halo, came out in 1922. Vakeli is a representative of the first generation of Georgian proletarian writers. The themes of his poems are the industrial construction of Georgia, the achievements of the kolkhoz system, new human relations, and friendship among peoples. The comedy Aprakune Chimchimeli (1934) is about the kolkhoz countryside. Vakeli wrote the tragedy Shamil’ (1934), the historical plays Envy (1937) and Georgii Saakadze (1940), the plays Steel (1950) and Rustaveli (1959), and other works. Vakeli’s narrative poems (Shirakiani, Zelimkhan, and Arsen Dzhor-dzhiashvili) are written in language close to popular speech.