DIPLOMAT.
WRITER.
POET.
Words preserve memory,
shape public life,
and deepen our understanding
of one another.
Reflections on love and loss, identity and belonging, public life, diplomacy, and societies in transition.
Featured Essay
On Inheritance
This Independence Day found me watching my six-year-old daughter with quiet amazement. For the first time, she knows what she is celebrating. She recognizes our flag. She sings the national anthem with excitement. She knows that today is South Sudan’s birthday.
Selected Essays
Essays and meditations on memory, belonging, language, and public life.
On Love →
A meditation on love, sacrifice, possession, and the wisdom to let go.
On the Choice of Official Language →
An meditation on language, identity, history, and the place of language in nation-building.
On Silence →
A meditation on silence, restraint, listening, and the wisdom of knowing when not to speak.
On Trust →
A meditation on trust, negotiations, promises, and what happens when the principles agreed upon begin to give way.
Poetry
Poems and collections on memory kinship, country, love, loss, and belonging.
Kindred
Poems of kinship, memory, identity, and belonging.
View collection →
No More Betrayals
Poems shaped by country, conscience, struggle, and hope.
View collection →
Public life
Conversations, engagements, and experiences from public life.
Conversations & Interviews
Selected interviews, conversations, and public discussions.
In Public Life
Selected moments from public, cultural, educational, and community life.
Mankhoc Charities
The work of Mankhoc Charities in expanding access to education for children in South Sudan.
About
Apuk Ayuel Mayen is a South Sudanese diplomat, writer, and poet. Her work moves between public service and literature, with a continuing interest in memory, language, identity, and public life.
About Apuk →
Apuk Ayuel Mayen 