What can one neighbourhood tell us about a country — and about the way we live alongside one another? Elizabeth Gowing’s new book, The First Bllok: the lives of a Kosovan neighbourhood, explores those questions through the people of a distinctive corner of Prishtina. To celebrate its publication, she is inviting readers to an online salon on Wednesday 25 November 2026 at 6pm UK time.
A neighbourhood’s stories, a country’s history
Built in 1948, the First Block — Blloku i Parë in Albanian and Prvi Stambeni Blok in Serbian — is described in the book as Kosovo’s first experiment in collective housing. Actors, teachers, footballers, writers and musicians made their homes in this multi-ethnic neighbourhood in the capital.
Drawing on residents’ experiences across nearly eight decades, Gowing connects everyday acts of neighbourliness with the wider changes that have shaped Kosovo. Shared childcare, coffee, books and food sit alongside much harder memories of conflict and the arrival of paramilitaries.
For UK readers with family connections to Kosovo, the subject offers a way into conversations about the places, relationships and habits that make a home. Its questions also travel beyond Kosovo: how do neighbours support one another, and what helps those bonds endure?
Join the online salon on 25 November
According to Gowing’s launch invitation, the gathering is designed to put the book’s ideas about community into practice. The programme includes readings from the book, a group screenshot with readers holding their books or Kindles, and breakout-room conversations intended to connect familiar faces and new acquaintances.
Readers who would like to volunteer to read a paragraph are invited to let the author know.
Date: Wednesday 25 November 2026
Time: 6pm UK time; 7pm in Kosovo; 1pm Eastern Time
Where: Online, via Zoom
Registration: Register for the online salon
Gowing asks readers to register early. Please check the registration page for the latest joining details.
About Elizabeth Gowing
Gowing’s connection with the neighbourhood is personal: she bought a flat in the Bllok five years before the book’s publication. Her author biography describes two decades living in Kosovo and citizenship granted by presidential decree in 2018.
She co-founded the grassroots charity The Ideas Partnership, spent three years advising Kosovo’s Prime Minister on communities, and has lectured on Sustainable Communities at Kosovo’s American University. This book brings her interest in community together with the experience of making a home among the people whose stories she tells.
Find the book and support community work
The First Bllok: the lives of a Kosovan neighbourhood is available through Amazon UK. Readers can also visit the author’s book page for additional material and information about signed copies.
In her launch announcement, Gowing also offered a free copy to paid subscribers to Communities at Work during publication week. She quoted a subscription price of £8 per month and said subscription income goes to The Ideas Partnership. As this is a time-limited promotion, check the current terms and availability directly before subscribing.
Source: Elizabeth Gowing’s launch announcement supplied to UKAN, with book background checked against her official website. Event details and the launch-week offer are attributed to the author’s invitation.