Luci Tapahonso (lucitapahonso.com), the first poet laureate of the Navajo Nation, has spent most of her life writing right here in New Mexico. Tapahonso was born on the Navajo reservation in Shiprock and grew up only speaking and understanding her native tongue. At a young age she attended a boarding school where she learned to read and write in English, and she later attended the University of New Mexico. Tapahonso, who holds a master’s degree in creative writing, has taught at multiple universities around the United States, and she was honored by the New Mexico Book Association at their Winter Fiesta in February. The author recently spoke with Pasatiempo about her career and life.
How old were you when you realized you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always loved writing and reading ... I grew up only speaking Navajo until I went to school. When I learned to read and write, I really loved that, because when I was in boarding school I was really lonely. I came from a big family; I’m one of 11 children. Books and reading helped me just to kind of get through things.
How old were you when you went to boarding school?
I was in second grade. It was hard at first. But I always liked writing, and I started keeping a journal in junior high. In high school, I edited the high school newspaper. I just kind of always did things that had to do with writing, and when I went to college, I started as a journalist. But then, just on a whim and because I had an elective, I took a class in poetry.
The Navajo Nation's first poet laureate, Luci Tapahonso
What a huge sliding door of your life, from journalism to poetry. Did you experience initial success or did it take a long time?
It was really wonderful. I had as my first teacher Leslie Silko from Laguna, and she was already a novelist then. She was 27 years old, and she was a professor, and I was really impressed with her. That’s when I realized what I really wanted to do, except that I went into education. I went back to graduate school to gain a little bit more education, and I realized when I was a graduate assistant that I really loved teaching. They just came together.
Did you teach creative writing?
I taught poetry and literature. And also creative writing.
Was it hard to teach it when you were also doing it?
Not really because I just loved it so much. I was always learning what works and putting my own perspective into it. Over the years, I learned that keeping my Navajo upbringing and my Navajo way of thinking was just much more effective for me.
What did it mean for you to be named the first Navajo poet laureate in 2013? What a gigantic honor.
I know. I was so surprised. I really felt very honored, but I also felt that it was a tribute to my parents and my relatives and all the people who raised me. The people who helped me and scolded me. Everything. My writing is really about Navajo lifestyle.
Did you already have a few books published by that point? Did becoming the first poet laureate open a lot of doors for you?
I probably had seven books of poetry and seven children’s books by then.
What made you branch out into children’s books? And did you find writing for children was similar to writing poetry?
It’s very different. My children were the impetus. We always loved telling stories, and the stories I would tell them, sometimes they were made up and sometimes they were the stories I grew up with. I would adjust the stories depending on their reactions.
You taught at UNM for a long time?
I started teaching there as an assistant professor, and then my husband took a job in Kansas at Haskell Indian Nations University. We moved there, and then eventually I was able to do a job at [The University of Kansas] in Lawrence. We were in Lawrence for 10 years, and then we moved to Tucson at the University of Arizona. I was a full professor there. We lived there for 11 years, and then we came back to New Mexico. I went back to UNM. It was a full circle.
What year did you come back?
We came back in 2012. My husband, Robert Martin, is the president at IAIA. And then I taught for four years and decided to retire.
But you retired from teaching; not from writing, right?
Poets never retire. I have a lot of projects going on. I stay really busy. I also weave; I’ve been wanting to devote more time to textiles. I just finished a script for Disney, and then I was part of a movie for a group in Canada. It’s about sacred places. And then I worked with a local nonprofit company here called Silver Bullet. We did a film called A Thousand Voices, which was really focused on my work. And I’m still writing for different publications.
