Soap Factory and Boston Progress Radio

Saymoukda hides secrets in trash bags...will come clean at the Soap Factory

FLOATING WORLDS:
A READING with Saymoukda Vongsay and others
I keeps it movin' in the month of April with an upcoming show alongside Clive Murphy's inflated sculpture installation, "Almost Nothing". The creative folks at Talking Image Connection teams up with the Soap Factory. Never before has an artist occupied the entire gallery! If you dig subversive & avante garde art - don't miss this!

*photo credit: Magnan Projects

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Saymoukda gets SHUFFLED!
Back in November of 2008, back when I was just a little youth, Boston Progress Radio tapped me on the shoulder for their weekly column, Shuffled! They make it their business that the ipod contents of artists from the APA community be known. I feel like a celebrity to be in the company of Ishle Yi Park, Staceyann Chin, Blue Scholars, David Mura, Catzie Vilayphonh, etc...

To view the entire article, pop the hood:
http://www.bprlive.org/2008/11/13/shuffled-saymoukda-mooks-vongsay/

Listen MPLS!!

Writers and Rappers and DJs... oh my!!!

Bless their hearts, Alicia Steele, Franz Diego.com, and Noam the Drummer invited me to be a guest on their podcast show -- Listen MPLS -- earlier this week. It was the same night that the super sexy and beautiful deluxe Junot Diaz did a reading at Coffman... October 29, 2008.


here, have yourself a listen to the interview:
episode 17 featuring mooOoOoOoOOoks!
http://www.listentompls.com

*photo credit Alicia Steele

holding a brochure from the Twin Cities League of Pissed Off Voters, just us clowning outside of Radio K, captured in headphone glory ('turn my shits up, turn my headphones up').

Crime, Love, Politics

Hip Hop and Activism in Alaska! Busting Bad Doods With Ed Lin and Bryan!
Sometime between the season of spring and winter, I found time to do shows, publish a chapbook, and travel to Alaska. Let's work backwards, shall we?

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In the months of September and October I found myself in the land of Palin. Because I am mad patriotic the Anchorage Urban League invited me to perform and wax poetic about the importance of politics with youth -- primarily Southeast Asian communities -- for their Our Time 2008 workshops and the Remix the Vote Hip Hop Activism Summit. In the span of my one week stay, I visited temples, high schools, and the University of Anchorage performing my
poetry, giving mini lectures, doing Q&As, and hyped up kids to register to vote.

*photo credit Oscar Avellaneda

I was blessed enough to have kicked it all week with artists: Hueman Prophets (DC), Invincible (Detroit), and Troy Nkrumah (Nat'l Hip Hop Political Convention Chair by way of Nevada).
All the cats representing NYC: Toofly (world famous graffiti artist), Blitz the Ambassador, George Martinez (US Hip Hop Ambassador) and wifey Sylara.

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In August writers, artists, and fans gathered at Amazon Bookstore (Mpls.) to celebrate the one year anniversary of Bryan Thao Worra's book, On The Other Side of the Eye. I was fortunate to have shared the mic with artists, Katie Ka Vang and Brandon Lacy Campos.

*photo credit Bryan Thao Worra

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July's Crime and Love reading featured award winning novelist Ed Lin with author Bryan Thao Worra and myself. Ed was on tour promoting his latest book, This Is A Bust. That night I debuted my first chapbook, No Regrets, which contains a number of poems from almost a decade of writing.

*photo credit Bryan Thao Worra

Left to Right:
"On The Other Side of The Eye" by Bryan Thao Worra
"This Is A Bust" by Ed Lin
"No Regrets" by Saymoukda Vongsay

In Depth Biography

ARTIST BIO

Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay is the Lao American author of No Regrets, a collection of poetry and haikus published by Baby Rabbit Publishing. A Minnesota-based spoken word poet, she has performed nationally across the United States and internationally in Italy and Japan. She has shared the stage with nationally acclaimed American artists. She has worked with the Anchorage Urban League of Young Professionals lecturing and performing at the university-level and local high schools to urge voter registration and civic engagement and also served as liaison between local government and the Southeast Asian community regarding public policy.

Vongsay is a founding member of The Unit, a collective of emerging playwrights of color. Her short plays are staged at The Minnesota Playwrights’ Center. Saymoukda Vongsay’s current projects include a second collection of poetry and prose, a novella, editing manuscripts for emerging writers, and co-facilitating writing workshops for women with award-winning writer May Lee-Yang. She is a co-chair of the first Lao American Writers Summit in Minnesota and has worked actively to support the work of Lao women writers and artists across the country to celebrate heritage, diversity and community development.

REFUGEE BABY