Luka Lesson
Luka Lesson is a Greek-Australian writer cut from a different cloth. With an original and yet instantly classic style Luka’s work touches people from all walks of life, holding a humanity simultaneously intricate and eternal. Since exploding onto the scene in 2010, Luka has constantly influenced those who witness his work to pick up a pen again, or endeavour to write for the first time. A winner of Slams, including the Australian Poetry Slam final & Melbourne Poetry Festival final, and a songwriter from way back, Luka spent 2012 touring writers’ festivals and independent venues throughout Australia, Asia, Oceania and North America. Luka Lesson is both a Hip-hop artist and performance poet and is one of those rare talents that can successfully traverse the complex landscape of both traditions. Please Resist Me, his debut full-length album released in 2012, is a powerful combination of the two: 17 tracks of love, social change, ancestral pathways and internal ruminations. His latest album Exit was released in early 2014 and speaks to the idea of escape and getting outside of the everyday. Beside audio albums, he released The Future Ancients, a print collection of 30 of his best rap verses and slam poetry pieces written from 2008-2013, in 2013. Beyond his own body of work Luka is also committed to standing with communities of all backgrounds to establish a connection between social issues, poetry and self-empowerment. His experience in working as a workshop facilitator with both hip-hop and poetry is almost unparalleled and includes university appearances in China, teaching students in The Bronx (USA), Indigenous programs in Australia and a residency at Melbourne’s premier private secondary institution, Xavier College, in Melbourne.