Award-winning poet Natalie Diaz to speak as part of Literary Reading Series

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Award-winning poet Natalie Diaz, author of the collection “When My Brother Was an Aztec,” is scheduled to speak Nov. 29 as part of the 2018-19 Purdue University Literary Reading Series.

Diaz’s poetry is fast-paced and lyrical. She uses vibrant imagery to create striking social commentary about reservation life, family, pop culture and addiction.

She will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Krannert Auditorium, Krannert Building, Room 140. She also will host a Q-and-A at 4:30 p.m. in Beering Hall, Room 2290. Both events are free and open to the public.

Diaz was born in the Fort Mojave Indian Village in Needles, California, and is a member of the Gila River Indian Tribe. She played professional basketball in Europe and Asia before earning her Master of Fine Arts at Old Dominion University. Now, she is an associate professor and the Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Chair in Modern and Contemporary Poetry at Arizona State University. She has worked with the last speakers of Mojave and directed a language revitalization program. Diaz was awarded a Bead Loaf Fellowship, the Holmes National Poetry Prize, a Hodder Fellowship, a PEN/Civitella Ranieri Foundation Residency, and a U.S. Artists Ford Fellowship. 

The event is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Department of English. 

Writer: Kelsey Schnieders Lefever, kschnied@purdue.edu

Source: Julie Henderson, web and media coordinator, Department of English, jhenders@purdue.edu