De'Ashia Wallace
Author, Poet, Spoken-Word Artist, and Founder of My Pen Still Has Ink LLC
Writing & Performing through grief, healing, resilience, and the experiences we sometimes struggle to name.
De'Ashia Wallace, who also publishes and performs as AJ P.R., is an author, poet, and spoken-word artist whose creative work is rooted in emotional honesty and human connection.Her writing explores grief, family, resilience, healing, identity, relationships, vulnerability, and the experiences people often carry before they have found the words to describe them.For Wallace, writing is more than an act of expression. It can be a way of processing experience, creating conversation, and helping people recognize pieces of themselves in another person's story.
The Hug I Wish I Gave You
Wallace is the author of The Hug I Wish I Gave You, a poetry collection centered on the moments people continue to carry long after they have passed.
The collection moves through grief that changes shape, love that leaves language behind, difficult truths, healing, and the courage required to name what hurts.
Through vulnerable and accessible poetry, Wallace invites readers to sit with emotions that are often hidden and to find language for experiences that may otherwise remain difficult to express.
At the center of the collection is a simple but powerful possibility: expression can become a bridge toward connection.
Published October 4, 2025
Find The Hug I Wish I Gave You on Amazon
From the Page to the Stage
Wallace's relationship with poetry extends beyond the written page.
She has written and performed poetry for many years and previously competed nationally as part of a spoken-word team that placed third in the nation.
Spoken word gives another dimension to her writing. The voice, rhythm, presence, and shared experience of performance allow words that begin privately to become something experienced collectively.
That relationship between writing and performance continues through her work as AJ P.R.
My Pen Still Has Ink
Wallace is also the founder of My Pen Still Has Ink LLC, an organization that brings together poetry, spoken-word performance, writing, author programming, and community-centered creative experiences.
Its work is designed for youth, adults, libraries, colleges, and community organizations.
The purpose extends beyond teaching people how to write. My Pen Still Has Ink creates opportunities for people to move from experiences they may not know how to articulate toward language, reflection, creative expression, and connection.
The name itself captures much of Wallace's philosophy:
The story is not over simply because part of it was difficult to write.
There is still something to say.
There is still somewhere for the story to go.
The pen still has ink.
A Growing Literary Voice
Wallace is a member of the Georgia Poetry Society and, through that affiliation, the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.
Her work continues to move between authorship, poetry, performance, and community engagement rather than remaining confined to a single format.
That versatility is also what makes the work particularly suited to both the page and the stage.
As AJ P.R., Wallace is joining Ink & Echo, a literary collection from Pyrrhic Press, as a Poet & Performer, creating a home where readers and audiences can discover both her written poetry and spoken-word work.
Original works submitted to Ink & Echo remain subject to editorial review before publication.
About the Author
De'Ashia Wallace (AJ P.R.) is an author, poet, spoken-word artist, and founder of My Pen Still Has Ink LLC. Her work explores grief, family, resilience, healing, identity, relationships, vulnerability, and experiences people struggle to put into words. Through writing, performance, and community-centered programming, she seeks to create opportunities for reflection, expression, conversation, and human connection.
Her poetry collection, The Hug I Wish I Gave You, is available in paperback.