Ashley Lumpkin and Deonna Kelli Sayed are writers with spoken word and solo show experience. This workshop will guide writers to dynamically engage their material for public reading, and offer advice how to turn the written work into performance.

Ashley Lumpkin is a Georgia-raised, Carolina-based writer, editor, actor, and educator. She is the author of five poetry collections: {} At First Sight, Second Glance, Terrorism and Other Topics for Tea, #AshleyLumpkin, and Genesis. Her book, I Hate You All Equally, is a collection of conversations from her years as a classroom teacher. A lover of performance as well as the written word, she has been a competing member of the Bull City Slam Team since 2015 and currently serves as its coach. She is one-fifth (and only Slytherin member) of the Big Dreams Collective and currently serves as a member-at-large on the board of the North Carolina Poetry Society.

Deonna Kelli Sayed is a Greensboro-based writer and performer. In 2023, she premiered her debut solo show, American Body. Deonna's essays and short stories are found in Love, Inshallah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women; Everywhere Stories Volume III: Short Fiction from a Small Planet, and more. Deonna is a grant writer for Triad Health Project and represents PEN America in the NC Piedmont.