Ella Mae Lentz

Ella Mae Lentz is a deaf American poet, author, and advocate. She is the author of the Signing Naturally textbook for American Sign Language. This book was very popular for learning ASL.GIL, L., & COLLINS, L. (2022). Corrective Feedback to Second Language Learners of American Sign Language. Sign Language Studies, 22(4), 668–702. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27186892 She also created The Treasure, a video poetry collection that included lessons in ASL poetry.

Lentz was born in Berkeley in the mid-1950s to deaf parents. She graduated from the California School for the Deaf in 1971. She went on to study at Gallaudet University, where she discovered her interest in ASL. She was also awarded the Kappa Gamma Poetry Award from Gallaudet University. She was interested in theater and drama.

Lentz decided not to study Drama and instead studied English.  She worked at Northeastern University as a research assistant. She was on “Silent Perspectives” in 1974. In 2007, she formed ASL Presents. She has currently done hundreds of presentations about ASL in the US. 

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Category:American poets
Category:Deaf people
Category:Writers from Berkeley, California
Category:Living people
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
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