The 2021 Rudolfo and Patricia Anaya Lecture on the Literature of the Southwest
Erika Sanchez
On Tuesday, October 5th, the UNM Department of English will host US Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo as the featured speaker for the tenth annual Rudolfo and Patricia Anaya Lecture on the Literature of the Southwest. The lecture will take place October 5, 2021 at 7pm in the Journal Theater at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) which is located at 1701 4th Street SW. This event is free and open to the public, but we request that audience members reserve a ticket ahead of time.
We are thrilled to host and welcome back our prestigious speaker, US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, who graduated with a BA in English from UNM, where Mr. Anaya taught for nearly two decades. The tenth annual lecture is the first since Mr. Anaya’s passing in 2020. We will honor Mr. Anaya with Harjo’s lecture, a homecoming for a lobo alumna and a fitting tribute to Mr. Anaya’s legacy at UNM and in the English Department. Mr. Anaya established the lecture series in 2010 through a generous gift to the English Department. A renowned fiction writer, founder of UNM’s distinguished Creative Writing Program, and former instructor of Joy Harjo, Mr. Anaya is also an Emeritus Professor of English at UNM. His papers are held at UNM’s Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections and are now available online through the Rudolfo Anaya Digital Archive: https://anaya.unm.edu/.
About the Author
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa and is an award-winning writer, performer, and saxophone player of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation. Her numerous publications include nine books of poetry, a memoir, a young adult novel, a children’s book, and five CDs featuring her poetry and music. Harjo will release her sixth CD, I Pray for My Enemies, on May 5, 2021. In 2019, Harjo was named the twenty-third US Poet Laureate, the nation’s first Native American poet to receive such an honor. Harjo was reappointed to a second term on April 30, 2020, and a third term on Nov. 19, 2020. Her other prestigious awards include the Ruth Lily Poetry Prize, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, a PEN US Literary Award for Nonfiction, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Harjo is Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and currently holds a Tulsa Artist Fellowship.
About the Lecture Series
The UNM English Department established the annual lecture series on the literature of the Southwest in 2010 through a gift from the renowned fiction writer Rudolfo Anaya and his wife Patricia Anaya. A founder of UNM’s distinguished Creative Writing Program, Rudolfo Anaya was also an Emeritus Professor of English at UNM. His papers are held at UNM’s Center for Southwest Research.
The annual Rudolfo and Patricia Anaya Lecture on the Literature of the Southwest features foundational figures in southwestern literature, such as Acoma Pueblo poet Simon Ortiz (2010), Las Cruces writer and playwright Denise Chávez (2011), Taos writer John Nichols (2012), Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday (2013), Chicana writer Ana Castillo (2014), and Santa Fe writer Anne Hillerman (2015).
Support the Rudolfo Anaya Fellowship Fund!
The UNM English Department also has the Rudolfo Anaya Fellowship Fund, which is very close to endowment and would then be available for student fellowships. We would like to encourage you to make a contribution to this fund through The University of New Mexico Foundation.
