Poet and prose writer Kimberly Blaeser will read from past and current work. Formerly the Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Blaeser is the author of five poetry collections including Copper Yearning, Apprenticed to Justice, and Résister en dansant/Ikwe-niimi: Dancing Resistance. A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor and MFA faculty for Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, Blaeser is founding director of In-Na-Po—Indigenous Nations Poets. Santee Frazier, visiting faculty in poetry in the MFA for Poets and Writers, will moderate a Q&A following the reading.

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(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.