Two poets from the Navajo Nation to read at Stories & Poems in Norwood
The July 17th Stories & Poems series at the Lone Cone Library at 6 p.m. will feature Tina Deschenie and Michael Thompson of the Navajo Nation performing their work.
“This July marks the first complete year of Stories & Poems providing a platform for storytellers and poets at the library in Norwood,” said Talking Gourd director Art Goodtimes. “We are delighted to have two Indigenous poets to mark this anniversary.”
Tina earned a B.A. at Ft. Lewis College, a M.A. at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and a Doctorate in Education at New Mexico State University focusing on Educational Leadership. She has served as Head Administrator at the Diné Charter School, Provost and Associate Dean at the Navajo Technical University, Editor of the Tribal College Journal, and freelance writer.
Her work has appeared in Poetry magazine and The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature edited by Esther Belin, et. al. (Univ. of Arizona Press, 2021) – winner of the 2022 Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award. Her important essay, “Why We Are Sticking to Our Stories” appears in the online Tribal College Journal https://tribalcollegejournal.org/sticking-stories/?
Her Diné clans are Ta’neeszahnii, Tó’aheedlíini, and Bit’ahnii. She grew up in the Navajo Nation, and still resides there.
Both Tina and Michael appeared in a visual art/poetry Ah Haa show in Telluride earlier this year and in several recent collections out of Cortez edited by the late Sonja Horoshko -- Wet: An Anthology of Water Poems and Prose From the High Desert and Mountains of the Four Corners Region (2021) and Fertile: An Anthology of Earth Poems and Prose From the High Desert and Mountains of the Four Corners Region (2023).
Michael Thompson (Mvskoke Creek) was born in Holdenville, OK, and raised on a south Georgia cattle ranch and row crop farm near the Flint River among pine trees, oaks, creeks, and swamp. He taught for 42 years at various levels of education in Georgia, Kansas, California, and New Mexico. For most of his life, he was a high school English teacher.
Currently he and his wife Tina Deschenie (Diné) are restoring her family homesite and raising cattle on the Navajo Nation in Crystal, NM. They have four children and several grandchildren. Their family supports numerous Native American activities, traditions, and causes.
His work has been published in various journals, including: Satchel: Story Objects (Art Juice Studio Press, 2022), Transforming Diné Education, (Univ. of Arizona Press, 2022), The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature, (Univ. of Arizona Press, 2021), Trickster (a graphic anthology) “Rabbit and the Tug of War” (Fulcrum Books, 2010), and American Indians and the Urban Experience (AltaMira Press, 2001).
This free series happens on the third Wednesday of each month. With our new dual format, each featured guest will give a 15-20 min. presentation, followed by a short question and answer period after each presentation. Then there’s a passing of the gourd, where community members are encouraged to share stories or poems.
A collaboration of the Lone Cone Library and the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds poetry program, Stories & Poems is free and open to all ages, thanks to the generosity of the library, private donors and Talking Gourds’ Fischer & Cantor poetry contests. For more information, text 970-729-0220 or email Goodtimes at <art@tellurideinstitute.org>. To visit the website: <www.tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds
