mining

Annick Smith reads the title essay from her first collection, Homestead (1995), as well as essays from her collection Big Bluestem: A Journey into the Tallgrass (1996), an exploration of the history of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma. She also reads "Sink or Swim," her contribution to a multi-author collection, Headwaters (1996), assembled in protest of industrial mining along the Blackfoot River. She concludes with "Writing Down the River," an essay on the Grand Canyon.

Rubén Martínez discusses being at an impasse in writing, what he describes as surgimiento in Spanish, or emergence. His talk touches on his personal experience and writing, as well as work by other writers and artists.

Gina Franco reads from her second book, The Accidental (2019), selecting poems connected to her family's history as copper miners in eastern Arizona. She also reads an excerpt from "Throne," a long poem from a recently completed manuscript. This reading was given as part of the Letras Latinas 20th Anniversary Reading with Edgar Garcia and Sheila Maldonado.