Join us for a morning of First Peoples poetry with American Indian poets Kimberly Blaeser, Elise Paschen, Mark Turcotte, and Gwen Westerman, moderated by poet Gordon Henry.

This reading will be dedicated to the work of Joy Harjo, United States Poet Laureate and editor of Living Nations, Living Words, an anthology of poems by American Indian poets reflecting on themes of place and displacement. The book is the companion to her online project Living Nations, Living Words, A Map of First People’s Poetry.

More information about registration here: https://www.newberry.org/04092022-first-peoples-poetry-reading-tribute-living-nations-living-words-project

(Lucille Lang Day, Kimberly M. Blaeser, Denise Low, Craig Santos Perez, Kimberly G. Wieser)

Indigenous peoples are those who’ve had the longest relationship with any given place. They have the deepest knowledge of the plants and animals, and they are the longest-serving stewards of the land, often for 10,000 years or more. Respect for the land is an integral part of indigenous cultures. The panelists will discuss what indigenous writers bring to the broader conversation of poetry concerning environmental preservation, ecosystem damage, and

climate change and read representative poems.