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Natalie Diaz

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Natalie Diaz
Born (1978-09-04) September 4, 1978 (age 46)
Needles, California, U.S.
LanguageMojave; English; Spanish [1]
EducationOld Dominion University (BA, MFA)
GenrePoetry
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for Poetry 2021

Natalie Diaz (born September 4, 1978)[2] is a Pulitzer Prize-winning[3] Mojave American poet,[4] language activist, former professional basketball player, and educator. She is enrolled in the Gila River Indian Community and identifies as Akimel O'odham.[4] She is currently an Associate Professor at Arizona State University.[5]

Early life

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Natalie Diaz was born in Needles, California, on September 4. 1978.[6] She grew up in the Fort Mojave Indian Village in Needles, California, on the border of California, Arizona, and Nevada. She attended Old Dominion University, where she played point guard on the women's basketball team, reaching the NCAA Final Four as a freshman and the bracket of sixteen her other three years. She earned a bachelor's degree.[7] After playing professional basketball in Europe and Asia, she returned to Old Dominion University, and completed an MFA in poetry and fiction,[8] in 2006.[9]

Career

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Her work appeared in Narrative,[10] Poetry magazine,[11] Drunken Boat,[12] Prairie Schooner, Iowa Review, and Crab Orchard Review.

Diaz's debut book of poetry, When My Brother Was an Aztec, "portrays experiences rooted in Native American life with personal and mythic power."[13] It was a 2012 Lannan Literary Selection,[14] was shortlisted for the 2013 PEN/Open Book Award,[15] and was a 2013 American Book Award winner.[16] One important focus of the book is a sister struggling with her brother's addiction to crystal meth.[17]

In 2012, she was interviewed about her poetry and language rehabilitation work on the PBS NewsHour.[18]

In 2018, she was named as the Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Chair in Modern and Contemporary Poetry at Arizona State University.[19]

In 2019, she was faculty at the CantoMundo Retreat.[20]

In 2021, her book Postcolonial Love Poem won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. It was called "a collection of tender, heart-wrenching and defiant poems that explore what it means to love and be loved in an America beset by conflict."[21] The book was also a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award, a finalist for the 2020 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a finalist for the 2020 Forward Prize for Best Collection, and shortlisted for the 2020 T. S. Eliot Prize.[22]

Personal life

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Diaz currently lives in Mohave Valley, Arizona, where she used to work on language revitalization at Fort Mojave, her home reservation. She worked with the last Elder speakers of the Mojave language. She is enrolled as member of the Gila Indian Community.[6]

Poetry

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  • When My Brother Was an Aztec. Copper Canyon Press. October 10, 2013. ISBN 978-1-61932-033-8.
  • Postcolonial Love Poem. Graywolf Press. March 3, 2020. ISBN 978-1-64445-014-7.

In anthology

  • Kurt Schweigman and Lucille Lang Day, eds. (2016). Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California. Scarlet Tanager Books. ISBN 978-0976867654
  • Melissa Tuckey, ed. (2018). Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0820353159.

Awards and honors

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Year Nominee / work Award Result
2007 No More Cake Here[23] Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry Won[24]
2007 The Hooferman[25] Tobias Wolff Fiction Prize Won[24]
2012 Poetry Fellow Lannan Literary Fellowship Won[26]
2012 Downhill Triolets Narrative Prize Won[27]
2012[28] Poetry Scholar Louis Untermeyer Scholarship in Poetry Won[29]
2015 Writing Fellow PEN/Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship Won[30]
2018 Poetry Fellow MacArthur Fellowship Won[31][32]
2021 Postcolonial Love Poem Pulitzer Prize for Poetry Won[22]

References

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  1. ^ Parmar, Sandeep (July 2, 2020). "Natalie Diaz: 'It is an important and dangerous time for language'". The Guardian. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  2. ^ "Natalie Diaz". odusports.com. May 20, 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  3. ^ "Poet Natalie Diaz wins Pulitzer Prize". ASU News. Arizona State University. June 11, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Parmar, Sandeep (July 2, 2020). "Natalie Diaz: 'It is an important and dangerous time for language'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  5. ^ "Natalie Diaz". Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Interview with Natalie Diaz". Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  7. ^ "Natalie Diaz". September 27, 2021.
  8. ^ "Natalie Diaz". The University of Arizona Poetry Center. poetry.arizona.edu. January 28, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  9. ^ "ODU Alum Natalie Diaz's Poetry Gets New York Times Attention". Old Dominion University. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  10. ^ "Natalie Diaz | Narrative Magazine". Narrative Magazine. November 5, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  11. ^ "Natalie Diaz". www.poetryfoundation.org. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  12. ^ Diaz, Natalie. "Dome Riddle". Drunken Boat. www.drunkenboat.com. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  13. ^ "Fiction Book Review: When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz". PublishersWeekly.com. May 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  14. ^ "Awards and Fellowships: Recent Recipients". Lannan Literary Program. Lannan Foundation. www.lannan.org. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  15. ^ "PEN Open Book Award ($5,000) | PEN American Center". www.pen.org. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  16. ^ When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz
  17. ^ Logue, Heather (November 27, 2012). "Natalie Diaz: Meth, Mistakes & Mischievous Barbies". The Seattle Star. www.seattlestar.net. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  18. ^ "Watch Full Episodes Online of PBS NewsHour on PBS | Conversation: Poet Natalie Diaz". PBS. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  19. ^ "Natalie Diaz appointed Marshall endowed chair in poetry at ASU". ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact. October 29, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  20. ^ "Home | CantoMundo". www.cantomundo.org. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  21. ^ "2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  22. ^ a b "The 2021 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Poetry". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  23. ^ "LUISA IGLORIA, NATALIE DIAZ WIN TOP PRIZES IN NATIONAL LITERARY CONTEST". Old Dominion University. June 2007.
  24. ^ a b "33rd Annual Literary Festival, Old Dominion University, October 4–8, 2010". www.lib.odu.edu. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  25. ^ "The Hooferman". The Feminist Wire. October 12, 2012.
  26. ^ "Literary Awards by Year". Lannon Foundation. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  27. ^ "Narrative Prize". Narrative Magazine. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  28. ^ "Bread Loaf Tuition Scholars 2012". YUMPU News. 2012.
  29. ^ "Natalie Diaz". Poetry Foundation.
  30. ^ "Fellows". Civitella Ranieri. August 21, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  31. ^ "ASU poet Natalie Diaz wins MacArthur 'genius' grant". ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact. Arizona State University. October 4, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  32. ^ "Natalie Diaz". MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Natalie Diaz.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Natalie Diaz.
External videos
video icon Natalie Diaz reads "Ode to the Beloved's Hips" at the 2014 Split This Rock Poetry Festival, March 30, 2014
video icon Poet Natalie Diaz Reads From 'When My Brother Was an Aztec', PBS NewsHour, June 20, 2012
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