Meet the Author

David Lubari Biar Lominyo is a South Sudanese international humanitarian whose life and work span the vast terrains of Africa and the Middle East. A scholar of the Sudan, Lubari’s academic path led him from the University of Juba from 1988 to 1992 to the University of Khartoum from 1999 to 2002, a trajectory that mirrors a lifelong pursuit of understanding the complexities of the land and its people. His early education, spanning from Kizibu Primary in Uganda in the 1970s to the storied halls of Juba Day Secondary in the mid-1980s, serves as a testament to a spirit that remained undeterred by the shifting borders of refuge and homecoming.

Lubari traces the genesis of his creative voice to the bio-diverse landscapes of his youth and the flickering light of the evening fireplace, where his mother, Martina Gire, first wove the world into stories. To Lubari, poetry is not merely an aesthetic endeavor but a vital preservation of oral tradition, a way to honor the ancestral “fireplace” in an increasingly fragmented world. His verse seeks to capture the ephemeral nature of home, suggesting that while borders may change, the stories we carry remain our most permanent dwellings.

His extensive career in humanitarian service provides a unique vantage point, that allows him to infuse his poetry with a global consciousness and a raw, empathetic depth. Through his interactions with diverse communities across conflict zones and cultural crossroads, Lubari has become a quiet observer of the universal human struggle for dignity and peace. These varied perspectives of life inform his poetic language, transforming lived experience into a tapestry of social commentary and introspection. In his collections, he invites the reader to look through a lens forged in the crucible of service, finding the extraordinary resilience that binds humanity together across every horizon.

ABOUT HIS WORK

The genesis of David Lubari’s craft, a poet’s journey. 

In his seminal reflections within The Endless Wars, David Lubari Biar Lominyo recounts a childhood defined by a profound sense of wonder toward the architects of language. To the young Lubari, poets were a celestial “special bunch,” possessing a divine geometry to knit words into their rightful places with precision, proportion, and color. He was captivated by the transparency of their diction, words that acted not as barriers, but as windows through which the reader might glimpse hidden truths. Using language as a graphite pencil to sketch the soul’s geography, these poets occupied a world that seemed light-years beyond his own. Yet, even then, a quiet ache resided in his heart, a dream to bridge that distance and tap into the ancient reverence society bestows upon those who find the rhythm in the chaos of existence.

Lubari’s philosophy posits that the “Land of Poetry” is an inclusive domain, not a fortress reserved for the academic elite. He contends that a poet’s most vital tools are not found in the exhaustive study of other poets’ work, but are carried in the “backpack” of the spirit: a keen eye for the interrelationships of the natural world, a heart greased by lived experience, and an unyielding determination. By drawing from the well of inborn talent, one ensures a purity of voice, a poetic “originality” unpolluted by the unintentional sifting of other writers’ ideas. He advocates for an organic dialogue between the observer and the observed.

As a self-described hunter on these new, colorful, and occasionally treacherous grounds, Lubari meticulously logs his footsteps. He understands that every hunter must forge a unique trail, lest the “animals”—the elusive truths of the human condition—become startled and flee. Through his writing, he shares the locations of his “herds” and “creeks,” offering his discoveries not as a map to be mimicked, but as a shelter for those who might stray along similar paths. Ultimately, his work serves as an invitation: a reminder that every individual carries a silent symphony within, waiting only to be “downloaded” from the heart and etched onto the page.

Lubari’s previous writings: 

Lubari’s creative lineage is long and varied, rooted in a love for storytelling that predates his formal career. His most prolific era (2000–2003) saw him navigating the political and social currents of Khartoum, in the Republic of the Sudan, contributing sharp commentary and fiction to the Khartoum Monitor and Al-Ray Al-Aam. His series, “My Short Visit to Hell,” and “The Regrettable Enjoyment,” showcased his ability to use fiction as a mirror for societal criminality and public health crises. Even his early years at the University of Juba revealed a playwright’s instinct, where his scripts moved from the university stage to the parish halls of Omdurman, twice earning his community the “gold” in cultural competitions.