Natalie Diaz

Natalie Diaz

Natalie Diaz
Born	Needles, California
Language	Mojave; English
Nationality	Gila River Indian Community[1]
Ethnicity	Mojave
Alma mater	Old Dominion University
Genre	Poetry

Natalie Diaz is a Mojave American poet, language activist, and educator. She is enrolled in the Gila River Indian Community.

Early life

Natalie Diaz 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. After playing professional basketball in Europe and Asia, she returned to Old Dominion University, and completed an MFA in poetry and fiction,^[2] in 2006.^[3]

Career

Her work appeared in Narrative,^[4] Poetry magazine,^[5] Drunken Boat,^[6] Prairie Schooner, Iowa Review, and Crab Orchard Review.^[7]

Diaz's debut book of poetry, When My Brother Was an Aztec,^[8] was a 2012 Lannan Literary Selection,^[9] a 2013 PEN/Open Book Award^[10] shortlist, and “portrays experiences rooted in Native American life with personal and mythic power.”^[11] One important focus of the book is a brother’s addiction to crystal meth.^[12]

In 2012, she was interviewed about her poetry and language rehabilitation work on the PBS News Hour.^[13]

Personal life

Diaz currently lives in Mohave Valley, Arizona where she directs a language revitalization program at Fort Mojave, her home reservation, and works with the last Elder speakers of the Mojave language.^[14]

Poetry

• When My Brother Was an Aztec. Copper Canyon Press. 10 October 2013. ISBN 978-1-61932-033-8.

Awards and honors

• 2007—Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry^[15]
• 2007—Tobias Wolff Fiction Prize^[15]

References

1. Poetry Foundation: Natalie Diaz
2. "Natalie Diaz | The University of Arizona Poetry Center". poetry.arizona.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
3. "ODU Alum Natalie Diaz’s Poetry Gets New York Times Attention". Old Dominion University. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
4. "Natalie Diaz | Narrative Magazine". Narrative Magazine. 2008-11-05. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
5. "Natalie Diaz". www.poetryfoundation.org. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
6. "Dome Riddle | DRUNKEN BOAT". www.drunkenboat.com. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
7. "Copper Canyon Press". www.coppercanyonpress.org. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
8. When My Brother Was an Aztec. Copper Canyon Press. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
9. Robinson, Shane. "Lannan Literary Program - Lannan Foundation". www.lannan.org. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
10. "PEN Open Book Award ($5,000) | PEN American Center". www.pen.org. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
11. "Fiction Book Review: When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz. Copper Canyon (Consortium, dist.), $16 trade paper (107p) ISBN 978-1-55659-383-3". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
12. "Natalie Diaz: Meth, Mistakes & Mischievous Barbies – The Seattle Star". www.seattlestar.net. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
13. "Watch Full Episodes Online of PBS NewsHour on PBS | Conversation: Poet Natalie Diaz". PBS. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
14. "Copper Canyon Press". www.coppercanyonpress.org. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
15. "33rd Annual Literary Festival, Old Dominion University, October 4-8, 2010". www.lib.odu.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-01.

External links

• "One on One with Natalie Diaz". GBall. 2000.