The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature

U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo calls The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature “essential to American literature and should be required for anyone studying American, First Nations, or world literature.”

Join the celebration for this ground-breaking anthology in an online event presented by Birchbark Books and Native Arts and the University of Arizona Press with special guests Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and First Lady Phefelia Nez. Reading in the event are editors Esther G. Belin, Jeff Berglund, Connie A. Jacobs, and Anthony Webster; and contributors Irvin Morris, Blackhorse Mitchell, Sherwin Bitsui, Luci Tapahonso, Laura Tohe, Bojan Louis, Irene Hamilton, Tina Deschenie, Jake Skeets, and Orlando White.

When: Wednesday, April 21, 2021, 6:30- 8:00 pm AZ & Pacific (7:30-9:00 pm Mountain/Navajo Nation)

This online event, part of our Spring 2021 Event Series, is free via zoom, but registration is required.

The Diné Reader developed as a way to demonstrate both the power of Diné literary artistry and the persistence of the Navajo people. The volume opens with a foreword by poet Sherwin Bitsui, who offers insight into the importance of writing to the Navajo people. The editors then introduce the volume by detailing the literary history of the Diné people, establishing the context for the tremendous diversity of the works that follow, which includes free verse, sestinas, limericks, haiku, prose poems, creative nonfiction, mixed genres, and oral traditions reshaped into the written word.

Please register here.

More Events

2025 AWP Conference & Bookfair

March 26-29, 2025

For Authors

The University of Arizona Press publishes the work of leading scholars from around the globe. Learn more about submitting a proposal, preparing your final manuscript, and publication.

Inquire

Requests

The University of Arizona Press is proud to share our books with readers, booksellers, media, librarians, scholars, and instructors. Join our email Newsletter. Request reprint licenses, information on subsidiary rights and translations, accessibility files, review copies, and desk and exam copies.

Request

Support the Press

Support a premier publisher of academic, regional, and literary works. We are committed to sharing past, present, and future works that reflect the special strengths of the University of Arizona and support its land-grant mission.

Give