Join us as we celebrate National Poetry Month with a panel on the power of poetry.

This event is presented by the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, and is open to the public and free. Zoom link will be sent the week of the event to anyone who has RSVPed in Eventbrite.

*Please note: this event takes place virtually in Phoenix MST. As Phoenix does not observe daylight savings time, determining the correct time outside of Arizona can be somewhat confusing. To view the current time in Phoenix, Arizona, you can check the world time clock. If you have any questions, please reach out to the Piper Center at pipercenter.info@asu.edu.

About the Panelists

Taté Walker (they/them) is a Lakota citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. They are an award-winning Two Spirit storyteller for outlets like "The Nation," "Apartment Therapy," "Everyday Feminism," "Native Peoples" magazine, "Indian Country Today," and "ANMLY." They are also featured in several anthologies: FIERCE: Essays by and about Dauntless Women, South Dakota in Poems, and W.W. Norton's Everyone's an Author. Their first full-length poetry book, The Trickster Riots, is set to publish in 2022 by Abalone Mountain Press. Taté uses their 15+ years of experience working for daily newspapers, social justice organizations, and tribal education systems to organize students and professionals around issues of critical cultural competency, anti-racism/anti-bias, and inclusive community building.

Sign up for Taté s follow up course, Ceremonial Poetics, here!

Lyd Havens recently graduated with a BFA in Creative Writing from Boise State University. Their poetry has been published in Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, and Tinderbox Poetry Journal, among others. They are the author of the chapbooks I Gave Birth to All the Ghosts Here (Nostrovia! Press, 2018) and Chokecherry (Game Over Books, 2021). Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Lyd currently lives in Boise, Idaho.

Sign up for Lyd's follow-up course, Solitude & Ourselves: Writing for Lonely Times, here!

Roanna Shebala is a Native American of the Diné (Navajo Tribe). She is from Fort Defiance, AZ of the Navajo Nation. Shebala earned her B.S. in Theater at Northern Arizona University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM. Spoken Word Artist who has been featured on four National Poetry Slam teams, a five-time representative on the Women of the World Poetry Slam, and a two-time representative for the Individual World Poetry Slam. Her work has been featured in Button Poetry, Indian Country Today, Annick Press, Red Ink, Wicked Banshee Press, and Suspect Press. Shebala has performed her spoken word poetry at the Lincoln Center for the Out of Doors Project and nationally. She credits her father for gifting her with storytelling; her works combine story, poetry, and performance. She is also a member of Saad Bee Hozho: Dine Writers' Collective.

Sign up for Roanna's follow up course, Your Four Strands: How Identity and Heritage Inform Poetics, here!

Panel Facilitator

Cecilia Savala is a student at Arizona State University where she is pursuing an MFA in creative writing and is an associate poetry editor of Hayden’s Ferry Review. Her work can be found in Pleiades, The Roadrunner Review, The Boiler, and other journals and anthologies. Cecilia was recently selected to receive the 2021 David Baker Poetry Award.