Las Cruces’ second Big Read starts Oct. 11, featuring national poet laureate

Thanks to a $17,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Arts Midwest (a nonprofit arts organization), the City of Las Cruces’ Thomas Branigan Memorial Library (TBML) and Branigan Cultural Center (BCC) will host its second Big Read event of 2021 in October and November.

The second Big Read kicks off Monday, Oct. 11, and continues through Saturday, Nov. 13. It will include both live and Zoomed presentations.

The month-long event will include Joy Harjo, the United States’ first indigenous national poet laureate.

Harjo, who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the author of nine books of poetry, including “American Sunrise,” along with plays, children’s books and two memoirs.

"The Big Read is a unique opportunity for the Las Cruces community to come together and encounter Harjo's words and work as a community,” said city Library Manager Brita Sauer. “It also gives us an opportunity to reflect on indigenous history and celebrate contemporary indigenous culture. The library will offer a range of programs and learning opportunities for Las Crucens of all ages."

“We chose to feature Joy Harjo and this book especially for its resounding relevance to the community of Las Cruces, New Mexico,” said City of Las Cruces Museum System Curator of Education Kayla Myers. “Today, Las Cruces is situated on the ancestral and current homelands of the Warm Springs Apache of the Chiricahua Apache Nation, the Mescalero Apache, the Piro, Manso, Tigua, Tortugas Pueblo, Suma, Jumano, Tapaxkolmeh and numerous indigenous nations through time. Ysleta del Sur Pueblo lies 50 miles to the east in El Paso. At New Mexico State University, there is representation from the 23 recognized tribes in New Mexico. Las Cruces is also home to a large migrant population which includes many indigenous peoples in Mexico, Central and South America such as the Maya, Tarahumara and Chichimeca,” Myers said.

Others participating in Big Read include indigenous poet Gris Muñoz and Brandon Hobson, author of “The Removed,” “Where the Dead Sit Talking” and other novels. Muñoz and Hobson will conduct writing workshops, talks and readings during the month.

Harjo will do a live reading at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13 at Rio Grande Theatre, 211 N. Main St. downtown.

Harjo is “very excited” to be coming to Las Cruces for the event, said City of Las Cruces Museum System Curator of Education Kayla Myers.

Harjo has received the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, two NEA fellowships, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Harjo is also a musician and has produced seven award-winning music albums including “I Pray for My Enemies.” She is executive editor of the “Native Nations Poetry” anthology and editor of “Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry.” She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, chair of the board of directors of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and holds a Tulsa Artist Fellowship.

Big Read will also include reading groups for children, and there will be readings presented by local book clubs and conducted by New Mexico State University faculty members.

TBML, 200 E. Picacho Ave., will have books available for community pickup to follow along with Big Read, said library Public Programs Manager Brita Sauer.

NEA has funded more than 1,700 NEA Big Read programs nationwide since 2006, providing more than $23 million to organizations nationwide.

Visit library.las-cruces.org and click on the tab for the Big Read.