Laura Tohe

Laura Tohe is Diné and Laguna and is the current Navajo Nation Poet Laureate.  She is Sleepy Rock people clan born for the Bitter Water people clan and is the daughter of a Navajo Code Talker. A librettist and an award-winning poet, she has written three books of poetry, edited an anthology of Native Women writers, and wrote an oral history book on the Navajo Code Talkers. Her commissioned librettos—Enemy Slayer, A Navajo Oratorio, world premiered for the Phoenix Symphony and Nahasdzaan in the Glittering World was performed in Francein 2019 and 2021. Among her awards are the 2020 Academy of American Poetry Fellowship; 2019 American Indian Festival of Writers Award; and the Arizona Book Association’sGlyph Award for Best Poetry. Her work is published widely nationally and internationally.  Many of her poems have been translated into music for piano, guitar, and trumpet.  She is Professor Emerita with Distinction from Arizona State University.