Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay is a Minnesota-based Lao American spoken word poet, playwright, and community activist. She was born in 1981 in a refugee camp in Nongkhai, Thailand. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota, Morris. She is currently pursuing a Master in Liberal Studies focused on public policy and arts and cultural leadership at the University of Minnesota. Poetry and writing Vongsay's award-winning poem, “When Everything Was Everything,” is taught by language arts educators in the Saint Paul Public Schools’ curriculum. She is the author of No Regrets, a chapbook collection of poetry and haikus published by Baby Rabbit Publishing in 2007. Her writings can be found in the Hmong Women Write Now! Anthology, Poetry City USA Vol. 4, Lao American Speculative Anthology, Lessons For Our Time, and The Asian American Literary Review. Additional work has been published by Altra Magazine, Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, St. Paul Almanac, Lao American Magazine, Hmong Today, and Bakka Literary Journal. In 2010, Vongsay was the recipient of the inaugural Alfred C. Carey Prize in Spoken Word Poetry. She has received scholarships from the Loft Literary Center (MN/prose seminar), the Joyce Foundation/Alliance of Artist Communities (IL/arts administration), the Asian Economic Development Association (MN/advocacy), and the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (DC/public policy). She has lent her experience in literary arts, programming, and community engagement to organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution (DC), the Southeast Asian Resource and Action Center (DC), Legacies of War (DC), Mines Advisory Group, Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota, the MN Historical Society, Paj Ntaub Voice Literary Journal, and the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre in Luang Prabang, Laos. Vongsay has performed and taught creative writing workshops across the United States and internationally in Italy and Japan. In her decade of experience as a spoken word poet, she has grown tremendously by learning from and having shared the stage with Danny Solis, Laura Piece Kelley, Blitz the Ambassador, Doomtree, Bao Phi, David Mura, Kelly Tsai, Regie Cabico, Yellow Rage, Ed Bok Lee, and Stacey Ann Chin, among others. Other notable readings she has organized include Lao'd and Clear (2004) at the Loft Literary Center and Operation: Gynocracy (2010) at the Black Dog Cafe. She was a co-chair of the first Lao American Writers Summit in Minnesota in 2010 and actively supports the work of Lao women writers and artists to celebrate heritage, diversity