Sarah Lubala is a Congolese-born poet whose work explores displacement, identity, and the stories we carry and become. She holds an MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation from the London School of Economics.
Her debut collection, A History of Disappearance (2022), received critical acclaim and was featured in Open Country Mag’s “60 Notable Books of 2022” and The Africa Report’s “15 Must-Read Books for Summer 2022.”
Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Gerald Kraak and Brittle Paper Poetry Awards, and she is the winner of the 2023 Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Best Fiction: Poetry and the 2024 Ingrid Jonker Prize.
A History of Disappearance
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Sarah Lubala is a Congolese-born poet. Her family fled the Democratic Republic of Congo two decades ago amidst political unrest as militant factions tried to overthrow the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. She relocated first to Cape Town, then Abidjan — the capital of the Ivory Coast — before settling in Johannesburg.
Working at the limits of language and human experience, in the place of Celan’s Sprachgitter — her debut collection, A History of Disappearance, examines what happens to humanity at the margins and in the far places of experience, pain, and love.
Achingly humane, and characterised by a fine and gracious empathy, this work draws the reader into a greater fellowship with and understanding of the world and themselves in it.