Join us for our fall Zoom kick-off reading series featuring NM poets
Sarah Kotchian, Katherine Seluja, and Hilda Raz
followed by open mic
Sarah Kotchian (Albuquerque), Katherine Seluja (Santa Fe), Hilda Raz (Placitas)
Sarah Kotchian
Sarah Kotchian: Light of Wings
Kotchian’s Camino, a book of poems about the author’s 500-mile solo pilgrimage in Spain, received the New Mexico and Arizona Book Award and the Seven Sisters Book Award. Her collection, Light of Wings, was published by University of New Mexico Press in 2024.
A contributor at the 2019 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and a Pushcart nominee, her writing has appeared in “Flyway,” “Split Rock Review,” “Stoneboat Literary Journal,” “Tiny Seed Literary Journal,” “Tulip Tree Press,” “Wingless Dreamer,” “Persimmon Tree,” “Bosque Journal,” “Listen,” “Presence,” and “ABQ inPrint,” and on the podcast “The Unruly Muse.”
She holds a B.A. in American Literature from Middlebury College, a Master of Education from Harvard University, a Master of Public Health from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of New Mexico, She is a trained spiritual director and leads spiritual and creative writing retreats.
Light of Wings: Poems (published February 2024, University of New Mexico Press.) is a 2024 Finalist in the NM/Arizona Book Awards’ Poetry Category. Winners will be announced October 1. Order the book here.
Katherine DiBella Seluja: Point of Entry
Katherine DiBella Seluja is a poet and a micro fiction writer. Her most recent poetry collection, Point of Entry (UNM Press, 2023) focuses on issues of immigration and ancestry. Her previous book, Gather the Night (UNM Press, 2018) is dedicated to her older brother who lived with schizophrenia and substance use disorder. She is co-author with Tina Carlson and Stella Reed, of the award-winning collaborative collection, We Are Meant to Carry Water (3: A Taos Press, 2019). Katherine’s poem, “November Fruit” is on permanent display at the Helen Wurlitzer Foundation as part of the Taos Poetry in Nature project. Recent work can be found in South 85 Journal, Medmic, Cutthroat and Taos Journal of Poetry. Katherine has worked in pediatrics for over 40 years. She is a poetry editor at Unbroken Journal and lives in Santa Fe.
Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Health Awareness Week is recognized annually during the first week in October. Begun by an Act of Congress in the US in 1990, this week is dedicated to increasing awareness and education regarding mental health and its challenges. It is part of the larger month-long awareness campaign for depression and mental health screening. October 10th is recognized as World Mental Health Day in over 150 countries and works to stop the stigma against mental illness.
Hilda Raz: Letter From A Place I’ve Never Been
Hilda Raz lives in Placitas, New Mexico, and is currently the Series Editor for Poetry at the University of New Mexico Press and Poetry Editor for Bosque Press. Prior to her move to New Mexico, she was the editor of the literary journal Prairie Schooner from 1987 to 2010 and is the founding director of the Prairie Schooner Raz–Shumaker Book Prizes in poetry and short fiction. In 1993 she was named the first Luschei Professor and Editor in the Department of English at the University of Nebraska where she has worked intensively with graduate students in the Ph.D. program. She has published fourteen books as a poet, nonfiction writer, and editor. Her recent books include Letter from a Place I’ve Never Been and List & Story.