Natalie Diaz (1978 - )

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet/educator/activist Natalie Diaz identifies as a Latinx queer woman and a member of the Mojave and the Gila River Indian community of the Pima in Arizona.  Growing up with a diverse language and family background that mixed the Spanish and Mexican culture of her father with the Mojave traditions of her mother, Diaz has celebrated her heritage throughout her career and has not shied away from exposing the challenges of life for Native Americans. Her first book, My Brother Was an Aztec won the 2013 American Poetry Award for its dark, often humorous depiction of a sister, grieving her brother’s drug addiction.  Her second book Postcolonial Love Poem was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for its heartfelt poems that explore the power of love and being loved and the overwhelming desire to be seen and heard.  Diaz’s poetry provides a truthful look at American history and the often-brutal treatment of indigenous people. Yet her poems move beyond the anger to a place where love, understanding and hope for a better future can bloom and grow. A graduate of Old Dominion University and a professor at Arizona State University, where she is the Founding Director of The Center for Imagination in the Borderlands, she is a tireless advocate for the preservation of indigenous languages and history and a literary artist who is making a difference.