cultural heritage

Lucille Clifton reads poems published from 1969 to 1980. Her reading also includes exciting performances of drafts and unpublished poems.

Lucille Clifton reads poems on many subjects, including family and illness, as well as a series of Rastafarian-inspired poems about the life of the Biblical figure Mary. In addition to poems, Clifton reads excerpts from Generations: A Memoir and her children's book Sonora Beautiful.

In this performance, Lucille Clifton reads primarily from Next: New Poems and begins the performance with an excerpt from her children's book Sonora Beautiful. Clifton remarks that this is her first public reading of the poem series "Ten Oxherding Pictures."

Juan Felipe Herrera performs his poetry and speaks movingly about song, language, and family in a reading given alongside Sherwin Bitsui for the 2009 Tucson Festival of Books. Herrera's Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems, published by the University of Arizona Press, was announced as the winner of the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award just two days prior to this reading.

Mexican poet Homero Aridjis reads work reflecting his environmental activism and engagement with Mexican history, drawn from his 2001 bilingual publication Ojos de otro mirar / Eyes to See Otherwise: Selected Poems. The English translations of Aridjis's poems (by Eliot Weinberger, George McWhirter, and Betty Ferber) are read aloud by Alison Hawthorne Deming.

Roger Bonair-Agard delivers a dynamic performance of poems from his second book, Gully (2010), as well as new work.

Diana García reads from her collection When Living Was a Labor Camp (2000).

Joy Harjo reads from Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (2015) and from uncollected work at the Phoenix Art Museum. She also reads one poem from The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (1994). This reading was originally given with Sandra Cisneros and Rita Dove in partnership with ArchiTEXTS: A Conversation Across Languages with Natalie Diaz.