Beyond thrilled to announce that I have been awarded a 2026 Laureate Fellowship by the Academy of American Poets. This is truly a game changer for my family and I.

With this support I will be organizing ¡SOMOS UNO! Poetry & Storytelling, a new series of events celebrating Tucson poets, artists and cultural workers & inviting in new audiences. This is your invitation to be a part of it (see last slide!) whether you identify as an artist or not, and from wherever you live in Southern Arizona.

Join us Saturday, October 10, 2026, 4-6pm, in Armory Park for POETS IN THE PARK, the official kickoff of the ¡Somos Uno! series – we’ll be celebrating the work of 21 local poets who also organize poetry events across our city. Food! Music! Free! Here’s the RSVP link!

This fellowship is also a gift of precious time. I’m at work on the stage adaptation of my book Reckon (a work-in-progress performance with video projection from Adam Cooper-Terán coming to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in September), two new book projects, and continuing to work as a volunteer organizer for the Tucson Birthplace Open Space Coalition.

And I’m grateful to no longer be an underpaid employee of an institution’s writing program that doesn’t value creative writers as teachers (10 of us were laid off here last year). There’s such important & urgent work to do outside of – & beyond – the exploitative ivory tower.

It is an honor to do all of this work for this place and its people which I love so deeply, who have made me who I am. Thank you to my family, my parents, my community and my comrades for believing in me. Les agradezco de corazón profundo. Let’s get it!