Poetry Talk with Amber McCrary and Kinsale Drake

Join the Labriola National American Indian Data Center for a talk with two Diné poets, Amber McCrary and Kinsale Drake! Both poets recently published books of poetry, "Blue Corn Tongue" by Amber McCrary and "The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket" by Kinsale Drake. Both poets will discuss their books and the process of getting their poetry published. Additionally, they will share the challenges of creating spaces for themselves as Indigenous women in the publishing world. Refreshments will be provided!

Amber McCrary is of the Kin Łichíí’nii clan, born for the Naakaii Dine’é clan. Her maternal grandfather is the Áshįįhí clan and her paternal grandfather is the Ta’neeszahnii clan. McCrary was born in Tuba City, Arizona, and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona. She is a poet, zinester, dog (and cat) mom, and tea lover. She divides her time between northern and southern Arizona. She is also the owner of the Abalone Mountain Press. 

"Blue Corn Tongue" is a like mixtape from a thirty-something Diné punk girl. It offers poetry about love, friendship, environmental destruction and language loss.

Kinsale Drake (Diné) is a poet, playwright, and performer based out of the Southwest. She is a winner of the 2023 National Poetry Series. Her work has appeared in Poetry Magazine, Poets.org, Best New Poets, Black Warrior Review, Nylon, MTV, Teen Vogue, Time, and elsewhere. She recently graduated from Yale University, where she received the J. Edgar Meeker Prize, the Academy of American Poets College Prize, the Young Native Playwrights Award, and the 2022 Joy Harjo Poetry Prize. She was named by Time Magazine as an artist representing her decade “changing how we see the world,” and is the founder of NDN Girls Book Club. 

"The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket" traverses the Southwest landscape, exploring intricate relationships between Native peoples and the natural world, land, pop culture, twentieth-century music, and multi-generational representations. Oscillating between musical influences, including the repercussions of ethnomusicology, and the present/past/future, the collection rewrites and rewrites what it means to be Indigenous, queer, and even formerly-emo in the twenty-first century.