Over the past few months, Art from Ashes dove into the beauty of Natalie Diaz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work, Postcolonial Love Poem, by participating in the NEA Big Read series hosted by The Word. AfA was one of many organizations to participate in the series that began with a bang at the the Denver Botanic Gardens on October 6th, 2023, and featured local poets Suzi Q. Smith, Franklin Cruz, and Adams County Poet Laureate Kerrie Joy.
Between October and April, AfA hosted three book club meetings for staff, board, and volunteers to engage in dialogue about this stunning poetry collection that explores love, loss, indigeneity, land, inheritance, basketball, family, and movement.
Regional events took place across Denver, ending with a final keynote event on April 24, 2024 when Natalie Diaz spoke at History Colorado as part of their Bold Women Change History series. Diaz spoke about the power of poetry in her personal life as well as her professional life as a writer and professor at Arizona State University.
Several Art from Ashes staff and volunteers were at the reading and got to chat with Diaz at the end! We were so honored to meet this kind, witty, funny, and down-right BRILLIANT icon.
