Peuo was only 4 years old when she and her family fled the horrors of Pol Pot’s genocidal regime in Cambodia and came to Massachusetts.

Peuo (a Cambodian nickname meaning “the youngest child in the family”) began keeping a journal as she tried to express what it was like growing up as a dark-skinned Asian-American girl living within two very different cultures. In her 20s, Peuo turned to poetry, calling upon childhood experiences and rebelling against traditional Cambodian values.

Through page and pen, she discovered a passionate, empowering voice as she began reading and performing at open mic venues and stages across the country. She now lives in New York City. Poetry and writing, she says, saved her life, and now she feels she has a responsibility to educate people about the struggles and experiences that Cambodian-Americans and women face.

Peuo will be one of four dynamic female poets performing poetry and dramatic sketches at the A.K Hinds University Center of Western Carolina in a program called “Her Story.” The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 29, in the Illusions dance club on the third floor of the Hinds Center.

The other multi-talented poets performing in “Her Story” include La Bruja, Helena D. Lewis, and Vanessa Hidary, all of who have impressive resumes as poets and performers touring the U.S.

Caridad De La Luz, a.k.a. La Bruja, was born and raised in the Bronx, but her Puerto Rican roots run deep. Her one-woman show, “Boogie Rican,” (a mix of poetry, hip-hip, Caribbean music and slide photography) debuted in the Nuyorican Poets Café and toured from San Francisco to Switzerland. In addition to teaching workshops on reading, writing and social justice, she has also appeared on HBO’s “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.”

Vanessa Hidary, known as the “Hebrew Mamita,” serves up a unique brand of Jewish-style, Latino-infused spoken word, and has been featured on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and highlighted in major papers across the country.

Her original one-woman poetry show, “Culture Bandit” opened to critical acclaim. A native New Yorker who grew up on the Upper West Side as a Sephardic Jew with a Puerto Rican best friend, Hidary delves into the cultural complexities of accepting different cultures and embracing her Jewish background.

Helena D. Lewis, a native of Newark, N.J., got involved in the poetry scene in 1998 after her brother died from HIV/AIDS. Her raw, in-your-face poems captured audiences across the country, and she represented the Nuyorican Poets Cafe on the 2000 National Slam Team. Lewis has also taught poetry in inner-city schools, worked with drug-addicted prostitutes and prison inmates who are HIV-positive, and lectured on developing community-based solutions to drug and health issues.

“Her Story,” a feminine twist on the word “history,” is touring East Coast universities this fall after opening last year as part of April’s celebration of National Poetry Month. Brooklyn-born poet and producer Kayo has assembled some of the hottest female poets in the New York City scene to create a show that tries to break down racial, ethnic and gender stereotypes. The poetry and monologue sketches mix humor, candor, and poignant verses to tackle some of the complex issues facing women today and their evolving roles in society.

The performance is a mix of individual performances and collaborative pieces, a blend of poetry and dramatic monologues.

“We’re able to blend that fine line between theatre and poetry,” said Lewis.

While the poetry from “Her Story” may be feminine in nature with its bold, sassy convictions coming from beautiful, talented, confident women, these poems are not aimed at a strictly female audience.

“Men don’t always understand what women go through,” says Peuo, so the poetry can share some of that female perspective and alleviate some of the hostility between races and genders.

For groups of people marginalized within a society or those who feel left out socially or politically, poetry has also become a medium of expression and survival.

“There is a way out if you are suffering,” says Peuo, who suggests fledgling poets need to keep putting out those feelings on the page, sharing it with an audience, seeing what happens. “No matter what you write, it’s always important.”