Ella Mae Lentz

Ella Mae Lentz, born on May 5, 1954, in Berkeley, California, is a Deaf American poet, author, teacher, and advocate. Both of her parents were deaf, as was her brother. She completed her secondary education at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley, graduating in 1971, and the institution later recognized her as a Famous Alumna. She went on to attend Gallaudet University, where she earned dual bachelor's degrees in Drama and English in 1975, and received the Kappa Gamma Poetry Award during her time there.

Lentz appeared on Broadway in 1980 in Children of a Lesser God. Two years later, in 1982, she played the leading role of Sarah Norman in a Milwaukee Repertory production of the same work. Her earlier performance credits include the PBS children's television program Rainbow's End and a televised talk show called Silent Perspectives, which aired in 1974.

Her research into American Sign Language has taken place at multiple institutions, among them Northeastern University in Boston, the Salk Institute in San Diego, and the University of California, San Francisco. In 2007, Lentz founded ASL Presents, based in Hayward, California, a company focused on coaching, consulting, presenting, performing, and teaching ASL and Deaf Culture curriculum.

Among her written contributions, Lentz co-authored the Signing Naturally Curriculum Series, a best-selling instructional series produced with support from a three-year federal grant through the Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education, designed to teach ASL as a second language. The series is used as a textbook in high school and college ASL courses. She also developed and tested curricula for the National Consortium of Programs for the Training of Sign Language Instructors, a grant project undertaken in partnership with the National Association of the Deaf, and contributed to Dennis Cokely and Charlotte Baker's ASL curriculum known as The Green Books.

As a poet, Lentz is widely recognized within the Deaf community. Her published collection The Treasure: Poems by Ella Mae Lentz was released in 2006 through DawnSign Press. She is also known for video poems and works including The Door and a signed version of the Star Spangled Banner posted on YouTube. She has served as a judge for poetry competitions, including the River of Words contest.

Lentz is a member of the board of directors of the California Association of the Deaf and is affiliated with the Deaf Bilingual Coalition and the Deafhood Foundation. In August 2009, she was named one of ten finalists in Purple Communications' Dream Bigger Campaign. Her partner is Judy D. Gough, and together they have five children, the youngest of whom is deaf, and ten grandchildren, three of whom are deaf.