Santa Fe and Albuquerque residents will participate in the 3rd annual My Favorite Poem Project at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), April 21, 6 pm. The event will be held in the Center for Lifelong Education Commons on the IAIA campus. The University of New Mexico (UNM) reading will take place at Zimmerman Library, April 13. Both events are free and are followed by receptions.

Luci Tapahonso during the 2015 My Favorite Poem readings

The My Favorite Poem Project is hosted by the UNM English Department and IAIA. The events are organized by Luci Tapahonso, professor and inaugural Navajo Nation Poet Laureate, who also directs the Creative Writing Program at UNM.

My Favorite Poem Project is based on former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky’s 1998 initiative—it continues to be held in various cities. The project features community members—students, business owners, civic leaders, teachers, college students, spiritual leaders, non-profit leaders, and media personalities—who read their favorite poems in five minutes or less.

Readers Scheduled at IAIA

• Stephen Wall (White Earth Reservation), Chair, Indigenous Liberal Studies, IAIA
• Poets Vivian Carroll (Cherokee) and Chee Brossy (Diné)
• SFPS students Christian Flahive, Faith C. Loretto (Jemez Pueblo), and Phillip Bread (Comanche/Kiowa/Blackfeet)
• Kelly Zunie (Cherokee/Zuni Pueblo), Cabinet Secretary, NM Indian Affairs Department
• Pamela Pierce, Attorney and CEO, Silver Bullet Productions
• Patsy Phillips (Cherokee Nation), Director, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA)
• Tazbah McCullah (Diné), General Manager, KSFR Radio
• JoAnn Balzer, IAIA Board of Trustee Member and Arts Advocate

Tapahonso who has organized My Favorite Poem Projects in Albuquerque, NM, Tucson, AZ, and Lawrence, Kansas, states that, “We often turn to poetry in moments of elation, gratitude, loss or fear, and the My Favorite Poem Project is a wonderful way to show the ways in which poetry is important to each of us in our daily lives.”

Photographic Selections from 2015 My Favorite Poems