Hear AJ P.R.
The page gives you the words. The voice gives you the rest.
Watch De’Ashia perform, listen to selected spoken-word recordings, access approved media materials, explore interview topics, and find the information needed to feature AJ P.R. in print, audio, video, literary, or cultural media.
Written to remain. Spoken to resonate.
See AJ P.R. in the room.
Spoken word changes the relationship between writer and audience. Cadence, breath, silence, rhythm, humor, tension, and vulnerability become part of the work.
More than one lane of work.
De’Ashia’s work moves across writing, performance, recording, community engagement, education, and literary publishing.
AJ P.R. at a glance.
Ready for programs, articles, interviews, and introductions.
Short Bio
De’Ashia Wallace, known artistically as AJ P.R., is an author, published poet, spoken-word performer, recording artist, community and teaching artist, and founder of My Pen Still Has Ink LLC. Her work explores grief, family, survival, identity, healing, violence, memory, and the experiences people often struggle to put into words.
Full Bio
De’Ashia Wallace, known artistically as AJ P.R., is a poet, author, spoken-word performer, recording artist, and teaching artist who has been writing poetry since the age of fourteen. Her work is rooted in real life: the beautiful parts, the painful parts, and the parts people are often afraid to say out loud. As the author of The Hug I Wish I Gave You and founder of My Pen Still Has Ink LLC, De’Ashia uses poetry to tell the truth about grief, love, family, survival, loss, identity, memory, and healing.
Stage Introduction
Please welcome De’Ashia Wallace, known artistically as AJ P.R., an author, published poet, spoken-word performer, recording artist, community and teaching artist, and founder of My Pen Still Has Ink LLC. Her work uses poetry and lived experience to create honest conversations around grief, family, identity, survival, healing, violence, memory, and community.
Media Description
AJ P.R. is the artistic identity of De’Ashia Wallace, whose work brings poetry, spoken word, recording, community engagement, and lived experience together. Her work creates space for difficult subjects to be approached through language, performance, reflection, and connection.
Conversations worth having.
Suggested starting points for podcasts, radio, print, digital features, panels, literary interviews, and cultural media.
Make her easy to feature.
Media professionals, hosts, moderators, event organizers, and communications teams can use these materials when preparing coverage or promoting an appearance.
Portrait for speaker pages, event listings, interviews, and promotional materials.
View Headshot →Cover artwork for The Hug I Wish I Gave You.
View Book Cover →Short bio, full bio, and stage-introduction copy are available directly above.
A public spoken-word performance is available for review.
Watch Performance →Schools and organizations interested in performances, workshops, talks, or programs can use the dedicated booking page.
Programs & Booking →Interview, press, podcast, feature, and collaboration inquiries can be sent directly to De’Ashia.
mpshiofficial@gmail.com
The Hug I Wish I Gave You
A poetry and creative nonfiction collection exploring grief, family, love, survival, memory, trauma, and healing.
The collection is a natural entry point for interviews and conversations about writing, family, loss, survivor experiences, childhood, memory, and the relationship between lived experience and creative work.
Start the conversation.
Interviews, podcasts, radio, articles, literary features, reviews, cultural media, collaborations, and press inquiries are welcome.
Please include the publication, organization, program, proposed topic, format, and relevant deadline when possible.
Media Inquiry
Helpful information to include:
Selected Spoken-Word Recordings
Hear the poems in De’Ashia’s own voice. Each recording enters a different part of her larger body of work through performance, rhythm, memory, and lived experience.
Casket Sharp
A powerful spoken-word piece about Black boyhood, stereotypes, gun violence, and the danger of a child being judged as a threat before he is allowed to simply be a child.
Favorite Color is Red
A deeply personal reflection on childhood abuse, fear, family trauma, and the ways a child learns to survive experiences that should never have been theirs to carry.
The Hug They Should Have Gave You
A survivor-centered poem about listening, believing, creating safety, respecting boundaries, and supporting someone as they learn to live with trauma rather than expecting them to simply “get over it.”
Dot 9:21
A tender piece about illness, caregiving, grief, faith, family memory, and the small physical details that remain with us after someone we love is gone.
Tell My Father
A personal exploration of a daughter’s complicated relationship with her father, touching on addiction, absence, love, disappointment, waiting, and the emotional weight families carry alongside substance use.
The Rules
A family-centered piece about childhood survival, sibling protection, instability, violence, and the unspoken rules children create when they are forced to navigate circumstances far beyond their years.