Alexandria "Aalix" Ashford is an American poet, singer, and guitarist. She is most known for winning the 2010 Prize Americana for poetry. She was born Breiseus Alexandria Ashford on March 15, 1984, in Starkville, MS to Patricia (Duck) Ashford and Tony Ashford. She was placed in VIVA, a gifted Arts program for the School District in Starkville, MS. At 15 years old she started to take guitar lessons and realized that this was a way to expand her writing and reach several people with her words. Taking a hiatus from 2006- 2008 to finish school at East Mississippi Community College, she graduated number one in her class. After graduating from EMCC, she attended Pepperdine University where she obtained a Bachelors Degree in creative writing, in May 2010 and will pursue her Masters in Creative Writing at the University of New Orleans this fall. Her first poetry collection, Danke Schoen, has been released from The Poetry Press located in Hollywood, CA. Alexandria has been published by the literary magazines Rose and Thorn, Chopper, Review Americana, South Jersey Underground, and Expressionists. Valparalso University states that Ashford's writings explore the intrusion of hegemony into African Diasporic cultures as well as the synthesis of African, West Indian, and American cultures. “She is also interested in the concepts of re-memory and lieux de memoire and their importance in black culture. She currently travels between the American South and the West Indies where she is conducting research for her second poetry collection, Lantern and her first nonfiction collection, Succotash.” (Valparalso)
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