Sam Diellor Luani

My name may not tell you much about me—at least not until I realize what I’ve started here. It’s very difficult for me to describe myself in adjectives, but this is me: the human text-image-and-music generator behind the items of this project, SDL InnerSpace.

This image is a couple of years old; I’m now a couple of years older and several kilograms lighter. Still, it’s the image I’ve used for my online avatar for many years, and it has become part of the authorial identity I want to establish with this platform and with InnerSpace.

As a brief introduction: for the last 40 of my 58 years, I’ve been acting, working, and living as a family provider in two families—one where I was considered a kid, and one where I was a dad. Until recently, when I was, quite suddenly, dismissed and discharged from the latter—deemed abundant and obsolete.

I’m still going and still standing, now solely in the capacity of a self-employed freelancer. I continue doing what I’ve done for more than 30 years as a family provider: translations, interpreting, language services, copywriting, publishing, teaching, graphic design, and other tasks requiring specialized skills and knowledge I’ve acquired.

These pursuits have become a significant part of my identity—how I’ve defined myself for decades. But an even more essential part is what I’ve been doing since I was a little kid, for as long as I can remember: writing, painting, and making music. I’ve never stopped, and I’m deeply grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to keep these skills alive and continue developing them through my work.

Asking me why I’ve always written poetry and stories, made and played music, painted, and so on, is like asking why fish swim or birds chirp. I plan to write several articles about this—how it all started and what it means—but the short version is: for me, it’s like breathing. I simply cannot live without it.