About
Phayvanh Luekhamhan was born in Champasak, Laos in 1975. Her family resettled in Brattleboro, VT as refugees in 1979. She has been writing poetry for performances and exhibits throughout New England for over ten years.
Recently Phayvanh has been collaborating with Souphine Phathsoungneune, a Laotian folksinger, to create a program interweaving Lao and Lao-American language, culture, and tradition. It is being performed in classrooms and concert stages throughout New England. Click here for more info.
She is a Juried Artist with the Vermont Arts Council and is on the New England States Touring roster. Her work has been supported by the Vermont Arts Council, The Vermont Council on the Humanities and the Vermont Folklife Center. Phayvanh is available for readings, commissions, workshops, and other speaking engagements.
RECENT PERFORMANCES (Highlights):
Dec 13,2006 – Artist in residence, Proctor High School. Proctor, VT.
Dec 12, 2006 – Artist in residence, Castleton Valley Middle School. Castleton, VT
Oct 25, 2006 – Walking Poem by Jennifer Karmin. Chicago Calling. Chicago, IL.
July 5, 2006 – Poetry reading and discussion: resettlement, biculturalism, bridging boundaries. School for International Training, Brattleboro VT
June 5, 2006 – “Library Lounge” reading series. Telephone Bar, NYC
May 14, 2006 – Kundiman Reading Series, Verlaine, NYC
April 22, 2006 – “I Think of This Every Time I Think of Mountains.” Sandglass Theater, Putney VT.
March 2, 2006 – Celebrating Women’s Voices. Twilight Tea Lounge. Brattleboro VT.
RESIDENCIES:
The Vermont Studio Center (2004)
The Kundiman Foundation’s Emerging Asian American Poets’ Retreat (2005 & 2006).
PUBLICATIONS:
“another dairy closes”, The Commons, Feb 2007. Brattleboro, VT.
Passages.
Chrysalis Education © 2006
Embracing Relationships.
Chrysalis Education © 2005
I Think of This Every Time I Think of Mountains. © 2005
I Think of This Every Time I Think of Mountains, Audio CD Vermont Folklife Center Archives © 2005.
EXHIBITIONS:
Brattleboro’s Sign Language (2002)
Freedom Sings, a Brattleboro Community Chorus concert (2000)