Sammarko Lightbourne is a Bahamian writer born and raised in Steventon, Great Exuma which he prefers to call “the borderlands” for its many paradoxes. Among them includes paradise hotels growing rapidly like palm trees amidst stagnant economic conditions for residents and more international flights than local flights, but still only a single high-school and public clinic for a populace of about 7,000 people. He uses these juxtapositions to influence his creative work which he often describes as the beautiful-bizarre. Sammarko received his undergraduate degree from The College of The Bahamas and is currently completing a Masters of Fine Arts from The University of West Indies-St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago. He enjoys writing fiction, plays, and performing spoken word that celebrates the oral Bahamian tradition, advocates for climate change awareness, and underscores the need for equity and empowerment in a country still ravaged by colonial ideals and a sense of displacement. When he is not lost in the realm of another creative’s work, he enjoys being a child of the ocean or using his creative skills
for climate change awareness or chronic illness advocacy.