Lucas Lungu Jr. is a Zambian poet, published author, and medical researcher born on May 10th. He is the winner of the 2024 Usawa Literary Review Gender and Disconnects Prize for his poetry collection Psalms of Violence, a work that established his voice in contemporary African poetry. His writing has also been featured in Ubwali Literary Magazine, and he is a poetry fellow at the Soonest Nathaniel International Poetry Workshop.
He is the author of Prayers End Here, a powerful and critically engaging poetry collection published by Zambian ARTS Publishing House. The book explores themes of violence, faith, identity, mental health, grief, and social justice, using vivid and symbolic imagery to reflect on human suffering and resilience. Through this collection, he positions poetry as both testimony and resistance, giving voice to experiences often left unspoken in society.
Lungu’s work is known for its emotional depth, intellectual clarity, and fearless engagement with difficult social realities in contemporary African life.