Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay

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 Nong Khai, Thailand. In 2020, she received a National Playwright Residency Program grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Education She received her B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota, Morris.

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. 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 and community development. She has also served as a regular contributor to MPR's weekly podcast The Interpreters.

Theater, art, and film

Vongsay's plays have been presented by Mu Performing Arts, The Unit Collective, Minnesota Fringe Festival, The Playwrights' Center, and the Consortium of Asian American Theater Artists. Vongsay's critically acclaimed play Kung Fu Zombies vs Cannibals was described as "a groundbreaking hip-hop martial arts epic" by Asian American Press and was named “Best Production of 2013” by L’etoile Magazine. Yellowtail Sashimi was part of the 2010 MN Fringe Festival. Vongsay is a 2011 Jerome Foundation/Mu Performing Arts' New Eyes Theater Fellow, has received a grant fellowship from the Minnesota State Arts Board's Folk and Traditional Arts to study traditional Lao storytelling,

She was a featured artist for the Sulu Series in Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York, a three-city monthly showcase of emerging and established Asian American artists, founded by Taiyo Na.

Community engagement

Vongsay has worked as a programs coordinator and consultant on community-based projects, research analysis, grant writing, program planning and evaluation, and community assessment.

Vongsay is Chair of the Twin Cities World Refugee Day festival planning committee, is a COMPAS and East Side Arts Council teaching artist, and serves on the board of directors for Intermedia Arts, Saint Paul Almanac, and Ananya Dance Theatre.