About

My name is Luka. I’m a poet, rapper and educator with Greek ancestry, born in Australia. I use poetry as a tool for personal and social transformation.

I live in a liminal space: where ancient Greek storytelling traditions meet contemporary rap and spoken word.

I perform, teach, and believe in poetry's power to transform writer and audience.

I found writing when I was fifteen. My friend had died in an accident when we were in Year 10, and I had no roadmap for mourning, no guide for grief at that time. In the quiet of night, I started writing to him - filling pages with everything I couldn't say It was the first time that I realised that…

…the page is very thin, but it can carry a lot of weight.

Those late-night conversations with blank pages became my first understanding of how words could hold what feels impossible. This wasn't poetry yet - it was raw necessity, the simple act of putting pen to paper when I had nowhere else to put my pain.

This is why I believe so deeply in creating spaces for poetry to flourish. Whether retreats in my family homeland of Greece or in modern classrooms, I've seen how poetry can become the thread that links us all, weaving meaning into the fabric of society when people are at a loss. Just like I was. It's not just about writing - it's about what happens when we dare to share our stories, when we create spaces where vulnerability becomes strength.

Poetry is not just an art form, but a necessary practice for making meaning out of the raw material of life.

For nearly two decades, I've been exploring how poetry transforms us.

As a poet with Greek ancestry, I weave between languages, lands and lineages - from the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe in NYC to collaborations with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, commissions from the Institute of Non-Violence to visiting dozens of high schools across Australia and beyond.

This work has taken me from the Edinburgh Literature Festival to Ubud Writers' Festival, from being poet-in-residence at the Scottish Poetry Library to teaching at Athens University. This is what I spend most of my time doing:

1. SHOWS — My latest work Agapi & Other Kinds of Love is a Hip-hop theatre show based on the Ancient Greek words for love. I also tour as a solo artist to theatres, festivals and poetry slams.

2. ACADEMY— My new online education platform: Luka Lesson Academy, is a central place for all of my poetry, music, historical knowledge, and online writing / creative courses.

3. POETRY RETREATS— Every year I host poetry retreats in incredible places in Greece. This year they include Poetic Pilgrimage: Meteroa and Poetic Prophecy: Delphi.

4. EDUCATION VISITS — For almost 20 years I have visited schools, universities and education centres to perform and run poetry workshops for young people. This where I am able to impact society for the better — amplifying the voices of young poets across the planet.

5. BOOKS— I have released two collections of poetry: The Future Ancients and Antidote, and one verse novel: Agapi & Other Kinds of Love. And although I see myself as a keeper of oral traditions, I know holding a book of poetry in the hand is a feeling like no other. So books are important to me.

6. MUSIC — I have released two albums: Please Resist Me, and EXIT as well as multiple singles and collaborations. Some collaborative highlights include a song called Forgive with Trevor Hall, The Light featuring Omar Musa, and working with composer James Humberstone on the score for Agapi & other Kinds of Love.

7. ODYSSEUS — My biggest project to date is a retelling of the Ancient Greek epic poem of The Odyssey, composed 3000 years ago by Homer, performed in Hip-hop and spoken word poetry with a live orchestra and choir. The show has been many years in the making in collaboration with the composer James Humberstone from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

My work lives between cultures and continents, between ancient and modern, between page and stage - I stand at the intersection of tradition and transformation, crafting moments where poetry can do what it has always done: heal, connect, and light the way forward in the darkness.

My ultimate dream is to perform my poetry in an Ancient Greek theatre at the base of the Acropolis, in the country of my ancestors — the theatre is called: The Herodeon.

Built in 161 AD, The Herodeon amphitheatre rests at the foot of the Acropolis, beneath the watchful gaze of the Parthenon. For me, this isn't just about performing in a stunning venue - it's about bringing contemporary poetry back to where it all began, about creating a moment where ancient and modern Greece meet through story and song.

It is ambitious, yes — but dreams are meant to be spoken out loud and LIVED, not just lay dormant in our minds. I speak it out loud because I want to welcome all of the trials and tribulations I have to cross in order to get there. Because sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is name our dreams out loud, and invite others

When I stand on stages around the world, part of me is always rehearsing for that moment - for the evening when poetry will echo off those marble steps again.