Event Category: Reading & Signing

John P. Schaefer Signs “Desert Jewels” in Tucson

Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Time: 11 a.m.

Where: Southern Arizona Heritage & Visitor Center, 115 N Church Ave., Tucson

Renowned Tucson photographer, author, and University of Arizona President Emeritus John P. Schaefer will sign his book, Desert Jewels: Cactus Flowers of the Southwest and Mexico, at the Southern Arizona Heritage & Visitor Center in the Historic Pima County Courthouse in downtown Tucson.

Cactus flowers are jewels of the desert—they add brilliant pops of color to our arid surroundings. In this book, Schaefer brings the exquisite and unexpected beauty of the cactus flower to the page. Hundreds of close-up photographs of cactus flowers native to the U.S. Southwest and Mexico offer a visual feast of color and texture, nuance and light. These stunning photographs allow us to appreciate the spectacular range of color and form cactus flowers have to offer. The book offers a glimpse into Schaefer’s process for capturing these elusive desert gems. His beautiful photographs were featured as a book of stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

About the author
John P. Schaefer had an active twenty-one-year career in teaching and research at the University of Arizona. A conservationist and avid birdwatcher, he helped organize the Tucson Audubon Society and founded the Nature Conservancy in Arizona. In addition to his academic and conservation work, Dr. Schaefer is a skilled photographer and author of several books on photography, including A Desert Illuminated: Cactus Flowers of the Sonoran Desert. He and Ansel Adams founded the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in 1975.

Blaeser and Tohe Speak at Golda Meir Library in Milwaukee

Date: Thursday, April 25, 2024

Time: 2:30 p.m., CDT

Where: Golda Meir Library Conference Center, 4th floor, 2311 E. Hartford Ave., Milwaukee, WI

Kimberly Blaser, author of Ancient Light, and Laura Tohe, author of Tséyi’ / Deep in the Rock: Reflections on Canyon de Chelly, will speak about interdisciplinary practices and collaborations at Golda Meir Library Conference Center. They will also read some of their poetry during the conversation. Blaeser is an Anishinaabe activist and environmentalist enrolled at White Earth Nation. She is a professor emerita at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and an Institute of American Indian Arts MFA faculty member. Tohe is Diné and is the current Navajo Nation Poet Laureate.

This in-person event is free and open to the public.

About Ancient Light:

Elegiac and powerful, Ancient Light uses lyric, narrative, and concrete poems to give voice to some of the most pressing ecological and social issues of our time.

With vision and resilience, Kimberly Blaeser’s poetry layers together past, present, and futures. Against a backdrop of pandemic loss and injustice, MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women), hidden graves at Native American boarding schools, and destructive environmental practices, Blaeser’s innovative poems trace pathways of kinship, healing, and renewal. They celebrate the solace of natural spaces through sense-laden geo-poetry and picto-poems. With an Anishinaabe sensibility, her words and images invoke an ancient belonging and voice the deep relatedness she experiences in her familiar watery regions of Minnesota.

About Tséyi’ / Deep in the Rock: Reflections on Canyon de Chelly:

Diné poet Laura Tohe draws deeply on her heritage to create lyrical writings that are rooted in the canyon but universal in spirit, while photographer Stephen Strom captures images that reveal the very soul of this ancient place. Tohe’s words take readers on a journey from the canyon rim down sheer sandstone walls to its rich bottomlands; from the memory of Kit Carson’s rifle shots and the forced march of the Navajo people to the longings of modern lovers. Her poems view the land through Diné eyes, blending history, tradition, and personal reflection while remaining grounded in Strom’s delicate yet striking images. These photographs are not typical of most southwestern landscapes. Strom’s eye for the subtleties and mysticism of the canyon creates powerful images that linger in the mind long after the pages are turned, compelling us to look at the earth in new ways.

Kim Blaeser Reads at Wisconsin’s Rivers and Ridges Book Festival

Date: Friday, April 26, 2024

Time: 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., CST

Where: The Commons, 401 E. Jefferson St., Viroqua, WI

Kimberly Blaser, will read from her book, Ancient Light, for the “Connections to Place” panel at Rivers and Ridges Book Festival. Blaeser is an Anishinaabe activist and environmentalist enrolled at White Earth Nation. She is a professor emerita at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and an Institute of American Indian Arts MFA faculty member. Quan Berry will be joining Blaeser as they both read from their works and share their personal relationship to place and how it has impacted their writing. Book sales and signings will follow the reading.

This in-person event is open to the public.

About the book:

Elegiac and powerful, Ancient Light uses lyric, narrative, and concrete poems to give voice to some of the most pressing ecological and social issues of our time.

With vision and resilience, Kimberly Blaeser’s poetry layers together past, present, and futures. Against a backdrop of pandemic loss and injustice, MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women), hidden graves at Native American boarding schools, and destructive environmental practices, Blaeser’s innovative poems trace pathways of kinship, healing, and renewal. They celebrate the solace of natural spaces through sense-laden geo-poetry and picto-poems. With an Anishinaabe sensibility, her words and images invoke an ancient belonging and voice the deep relatedness she experiences in her familiar watery regions of Minnesota.

Kimberly Blaeser and Laura Tohe Read in Milwaukee

Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Time: 7 p.m. – 8 p.m., CDT

Where: Woodland Pattern Book Center, 720 E. Locust St., Milwaukee, WI

Kimberly Blaser, author of Ancient Light, and Laura Tohe, author of Tséyi’ / Deep in the Rock: Reflections on Canyon de Chelly, will be featured in a poetry reading as part of the Native Writers in the 21st Century series at Woodland Pattern Book Center. Joining them is Elise Pashen, author of Tallchief. Blaeser is an Anishinaabe activist and environmentalist enrolled at White Earth Nation. She is a professor emerita at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and an Institute of American Indian Arts MFA faculty member. Tohe is Diné and is the current Navajo Nation Poet Laureate.

This in-person event is free and open to the public. Register here.

About Ancient Light:

Elegiac and powerful, Ancient Light uses lyric, narrative, and concrete poems to give voice to some of the most pressing ecological and social issues of our time.

With vision and resilience, Kimberly Blaeser’s poetry layers together past, present, and futures. Against a backdrop of pandemic loss and injustice, MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women), hidden graves at Native American boarding schools, and destructive environmental practices, Blaeser’s innovative poems trace pathways of kinship, healing, and renewal. They celebrate the solace of natural spaces through sense-laden geo-poetry and picto-poems. With an Anishinaabe sensibility, her words and images invoke an ancient belonging and voice the deep relatedness she experiences in her familiar watery regions of Minnesota.

About Tséyi’ / Deep in the Rock: Reflections on Canyon de Chelly:

Diné poet Laura Tohe draws deeply on her heritage to create lyrical writings that are rooted in the canyon but universal in spirit, while photographer Stephen Strom captures images that reveal the very soul of this ancient place. Tohe’s words take readers on a journey from the canyon rim down sheer sandstone walls to its rich bottomlands; from the memory of Kit Carson’s rifle shots and the forced march of the Navajo people to the longings of modern lovers. Her poems view the land through Diné eyes, blending history, tradition, and personal reflection while remaining grounded in Strom’s delicate yet striking images. These photographs are not typical of most southwestern landscapes. Strom’s eye for the subtleties and mysticism of the canyon creates powerful images that linger in the mind long after the pages are turned, compelling us to look at the earth in new ways.

Margarita Pintado Reads in Venice Beach

Date: Friday, April 12, 2024

Time: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m., PDT

Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, CA 90291

Margarita Pintado Burgos will read from her book Ojo en Celo / Eye in Heat  as part of the “Translating Latin American Poetics” event at Beyond Baroque Literary Center. Pintado Burgos will read alongside other featured authors including Frank Báez, Gloria E. Alvarez, and Carlo Acevedo. The readings will start at 7:30 p.m. and will be followed by a conversation and Q&A moderated by poet and translator Anthony Seidman, as well as book signings. The event is free and will be in-person and Live on YouTube.

About the book:

Ojo en Celo / Eye in Heat brings into sharp relief the limits of our gaze. It shows us what it is to escape the mirror and move beyond mirages. Margarita Pintado Burgos invites us to ponder the impasse while showing us ways to see better, to break the habit of lying, and to confront images along with language.

With devastating clarity, Pintado Burgos’s poems, presented in both Spanish and English, give voice to the world within and beyond sight: the plants, the trees, the birds, the ocean waves, the fruit forgotten in the kitchen, the house’s furniture. Light takes on new dimensions to expose, manipulate, destroy, and nourish. Alejandra Quintana Arocho’s sensitive English translation renders the stark force of these poems without smoothing over the language of the original.

Northern Arizona Book Festival 2024

When: April 13, 2024

Where: Heritage Square, 22 E. Aspen Ave, Flagstaff, AZ

We’re excited to be participating in the 2024 Northern Arizona Book Festival (NOAZBF), a celebration of literature from Northern Arizona, the Colorado Plateau, the American Southwest, and beyond. We’ll have books on sale at our table in Heritage Square along with Abalone Mountain Press.

Read more about the festival below or at the official website:

“Established in 1997, the Northern Arizona Book Festival (NOAZBF) is a literary nonprofit based out of Kinłání (aka the bordertown of Flagstaff, Arizona). It coordinates readings, panels, workshops, contests, and more that reflect the literary interests and cultural issues that define life in the Colorado Plateau region of Northern Arizona. As part of its regular programming, the NOAZBF includes the Indigenous Writers’ Symposium, Young Readers’ Festival, and Flagstaff Off-the-Page (FLG OTP, new in Fall 2021). Throughout the year, the NOAZBF collaborates with and supports the Northern Arizona Playwriting Showcase, the Northern Arizona University MFA Program, Cinder Skies Reading Series, Juniper House Reading Series, Flagstaff Poetry Slam, Red Ink., Thin Air Magazine, Carbon Copy, Curios, Eggtooth Editions, Tolsun Books, Salina Bookshelf, Abalone Mountain Press, Outspokin’ and Bookish, Poetry Out Loud, the National Park Service, Northern Arizona Museum, and Bright Side Bookshop.”

“Mujeres de Maiz en Movimiento” Book Party at Cal State Los Angeles

When: Friday, March 22, 2024

Time: 1 – 4 p.m., PST

Where: Student Union Building, Los Angeles Room, 5151 State University Drive, California State University,  Los Angeles

Celebrate with editors Amber Rose González, Felicia ‘Fe’ Montes, and Nadia Zepeda at their book party for Mujeres de Maiz en Movimiento: Spiritual Artivism, Healing Justice, and Feminist Praxis at California State University, Los Angeles. This free event features Mujeres de Maiz writers and artists with placitas, poetry, and performance. Books will be available for purchase and signing. The event is open to the public.

About the book:

Founded in 1997, Mujeres de Maiz (MdM) is an Indigenous Xicana–led spiritual artivist organization and movement by and for women and feminists of color. Chronicling its quarter-century-long herstory, this collection weaves together diverse stories with attention to their larger sociopolitical contexts. The book crosses conventional genre boundaries through the inclusion of poetry, visual art, testimonios, and essays.

MdM’s political-ethical-spiritual commitments, cultural production, and everyday practices are informed by Indigenous and transnational feminist of color artistic, ceremonial, activist, and intellectual legacies.

A. T. Cole Presents at Natural History of the Gila Symposium

When:

3:20 p.m., MST, Wednesday, February 28, 2024

1:20 p.m., MST, Thursday, February 29, 2024

Where: Besse-Forward Global Resource Center, Western New Mexico University, 100 W. College Ave., Silver City, NM

A. Thomas Cole, author of Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch, will give two presentations at the Natural History of the Gila Symposium. On Wednesday, Feb. 28, he will give a 20-minute talk titled “Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch and Carbon Drawdown” focusing on this book. On Thursday, Feb. 29, Cole will be part of a panel discussion titled “Citizen Science – Drivers and Platforms.” All Symposium sessions are free and open to the public.

The 10th Biennial Natural History of the Gila Symposium in 2024 serves as a gathering for researchers, land managers, conservationists, artists, and educators to trade insights and ideas received from the Gila Region, encompassing the watersheds and adjacent areas in southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and northern Mexico. This year’s Symposium holds significance as it kicks off the opening of the Gila Centennial, commemorating 100 years of the wilderness idea in the United States.

About the book:

Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch tells the story of a decades-long habitat restoration project in southwestern New Mexico. Ranch owner A. Thomas Cole explains what inspired him and his wife, Lucinda, to turn their retirement into years dedicated to hard work and renewal. They have been rehabilitating a ranch in southwestern New Mexico, where they focus on protecting wildlife and wildlife habitats, wetland restoration, and carbon sequestration. Their aim is to draw down their carbon use and to encourage others to do the same. The book shares the past and present history of a very special ranch south of Silver City, which is home to a rare type of regional wetland, a fragile desert grassland ecosystem, archaeological sites, and a critical wildlife corridor in a drought-stricken landscape.

A. T. Cole Reads at Bright Side Bookshop in Flagstaff

Date: Sunday, March 24, 2024

Time: 4 p.m., AZT

Where: 18 N. San Francisco St, Flagstaff, AZ

A. Thomas Cole will speak about his book, Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch, at Bright Side Bookshop in Flagstaff. A. Thomas Cole spent thirty-two years as a small-town lawyer in Casa Grande, Arizona. Since his retirement, Cole and his wife Lucinda have been rehabilitating a ranch in southwestern New Mexico, where they focus on protecting wildlife and wildlife habitats, wetland restoration, and carbon sequestration. Their aim is to draw down their carbon use and to encourage others to do the same.

About the book:

Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch tells the story of a decades-long habitat restoration project in southwestern New Mexico. Ranch owner A. Thomas Cole explains what inspired him and his wife, Lucinda, to turn their retirement into years dedicated to hard work and renewal. The book shares the past and present history of a very special ranch south of Silver City, which is home to a rare type of regional wetland, a fragile desert grassland ecosystem, archaeological sites, and a critical wildlife corridor in a drought-stricken landscape.

A. T. Cole Speaks at Northeastern Arizona Libraries

When: Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Times and Places:

10 a.m., AZT, Mohave County Public Library, 3269 N Burbank St, Kingman, AZ

3 p.m., AZT, Lake Havasu City Library, 1770 McCulloch Blvd N, Lake Havasu City, AZ

A. Thomas Cole will speak about his book Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch at the Mohave County Public Library in Kingman and at the Lake Havasu City Library. For his so-called “retirement,” Cole and his wife Lucinda have been rehabilitating a ranch in southwestern New Mexico, where they focus on protecting wildlife and wildlife habitats, wetland restoration, and carbon sequestration. Their aim is to draw down their carbon use and to encourage others to do the same.

About the book:

Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch tells the story of a decades-long habitat restoration project in southwestern New Mexico. Ranch owner Cole explains what inspired him and his wife, Lucinda, to turn their retirement into years dedicated to hard work and renewal. The book shares the past and present history of a very special ranch south of Silver City, which is home to a rare type of regional wetland, a fragile desert grassland ecosystem, archaeological sites, and a critical wildlife corridor in a drought-stricken landscape.

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