Poetry-N-Motion, LLC
Poetry-N-Motion, LLC
About Poetry-N-Motion, LLC
About Poetry-N-Motion, LLC
Poetry-N-Motion, LLC is a company that not only specializes in spoken word and poetry, but so much more. Through the gift of spoken word and writing, we engage our community through empowerment and personal development. Our specialties deal with writing workshops, mentoring, and also event hosting/planning. Our mission is to serve as a change agent to provide an alternative for individuals who are faced with challenging situations where a different outlet can be utilized to decrease and/or diffuse the emotional distress. Our target audiences are youth, veterans, community leaders, and aspiring artists.
About The Founder/CEO:
About The Founder/CEO:
LeJuane “El’Ja” Bowens is an award-winning spoken word poet, host, speaker, workshop facilitator, and author.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in Lima, Ohio, El’Ja enlisted in the United States Army in 2000. During his six years of service—including two deployments to Iraq—he began channeling his experiences and emotions into writing. Encouraged by a friend in 2005, he shared his poetry online, and the overwhelming response revealed his true calling.
El’Ja has since become a dynamic force in the poetry and arts community. His achievements include winning the 2009 McDonald’s Food for Thought Poetry Slam and the 2010 ECU Survival of the Illest Poetry Slam. He is also the first poet to have work showcased at the Obama Art Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina—the first and only museum of its kind in the state.
In 2014, El’Ja became the first North Carolina poet to compete in and win Grand Slam Finals in three different cities (Fayetteville, Charlotte, and Durham). That same year, he and the Bull City Slam Team won the 22nd Southern Fried Poetry Slam and secured second place the following year. He was later nominated for Spoken Word Artist of the Year at the 5th Annual National Poetry Awards (2015).
El’Ja is the co-founder and director of the Southeastern Regional NC Poetry Festival, hosted annually in Fayetteville, NC. His work has been featured on Poetry Slam Inc., All Def Poetry, Amazon, and PBS.
He is the author of multiple poetry collections, including So Many Things to Say: A Collection of Poems, Anywhere…But Here, and Before: A Collection of Poems. In 2016, he received the Rising Star Male Poet Award for the state of North Carolina and the overall GANSPA Award. He is also the creator and host of the Nerd Slam, which has been featured at the Southern Fried Poetry Slam, the National Poetry Slam, and ComicCon events across the United States.
El’Ja has performed at major festivals such as Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival, Big Ears Festival, Book’em NC Book Festival, Homegrown Festival, and the National Folk Festival. He has shared stages with acclaimed poets including Georgia Me, Sunni Patterson, Abyss, and Shihan Van Clief, as well as music legends such as C&C Music Factory, Rob Base, All-4-One, and Coolio. His collaborations include partnerships with the Wounded Warrior Project, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.