Join the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) from Sunday, July 6, through Thursday, July 10, 2025, as the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFACW) program presents its 2025 July Residency, welcoming a new cohort of incoming graduate students. Visiting writers, acclaimed for their work in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and screenwriting, will read and perform alongside several of our full-time mentors. Each evening will engage audiences with poetry, memoir, or fiction from some of today’s most vibrant and vital voices.
We are pleased to invite the public to attend the July Evening Reading Series events, held virtually via livestream and in person in the CLE Commons Room 201 on the IAIA campus at 83 Avan Nu Po Road, Santa Fe, NM 87508.
All readings are open and free to the public. We hope to see you there!
For questions, please contact IAIA MFACW Program Coordinator Veronica Bustamante at
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Biographies—
Billy Luther (Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo) is the writer/director of the award-winning feature film Frybread Face and Me, Executive Produced by Taika Waititi and distributed by Ava DuVernay’s Array for Netflix. The film was selected as part of SXSW 2023’s Narrative Spotlight and TIFF 2023’s Discovery and New Wave Selects. His feature documentary Miss Navajo premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens that same year. His second documentary feature, Grab, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was screened at over 80 film festivals around the world. His short documentary film, Red Lake, had its world premiere at the 2016 LA Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the 2016 International Documentary Association Awards. In 2018, he launched his web series alter-NATIVE for PBS’ IndieLens StoryCast. He is currently a writer and director for the AMC series Dark Winds. He is represented by CAA.
Deborah Taffa (Quechan Nation, Laguna Pueblo, Chicana) is the IAIA MFACW Director. Taffa earned her MFA in Iowa City. Her memoir Whiskey Tender was a 2024 National Book Award finalist. It was named a Top Ten Book of 2024 by The Atlantic, Time, Audible, Esquire, Elle, and other outlets. Taffa is a 2024 NEA Fellow, a 2022 winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Grant, and has received fellowships from Tin House, MacDowell, and the NY State Summer Writers Institute.
Learn more at
https://iaia.edu/2025-mfacw-july-evening-reading-series/
Sunday, July 6 at 6:00 pm (MST): Readings by Jennifer Givham (Mexican American), Pam Houston, and Anne Haven McDonnell—CLE Commons, IAIA Campus
Monday, July 7 at 6:00 pm (MST): Readings by Chip Livingston (Mixed-blood Creek), Kelli Jo Ford (Cherokee Nation), and Michaela M.S. Redcherries (Northern Cheyenne Nation)—CLE Commons, IAIA Campus
Tuesday, July 8 at 6:00 pm (MST): Film Clips and Interview Featuring Billy Luther (Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo) and Deborah Taffa (Quechan Nation, Laguna Pueblo, and Chicana)—CLE Commons, IAIA Campus, no livestream available
Wednesday, July 9 at 6:00 pm (MST): Readings by Annie Wenstrup (Dena’ina), Vanessa Angélica Villarreal (Mexican American), and Marcie Rendon (White Earth Nation)—CLE Commons, IAIA Campus
Thursday, July 10 at 6:00 pm (MST): Readings by Bojan Louis (Diné), Brooke Swaney (Blackfeet Nation Citizen and Salish Descendant), and Jake Fournier—CLE Commons, IAIA Campus
You may also like the following events from Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA):
- Next Sunday, 6th July, 06:00 pm, 2025 MFACW July Evening Reading Series: Jennifer Givham, Pam Houston, and Anne Haven McDonnell in Santa Fe
- Next month, 7th July, 06:00 pm, 2025 MFACW July Evening Reading Series: Chip Livingston, Kelli Jo Ford, Michaela M.S. Redcherries in Santa Fe
- Next month, 9th July, 06:00 pm, 2025 MFACW July Evening Reading Series: Annie Wenstrup, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, Marcie Rendon in Santa Fe
Also check out other
Entertainment events in Santa Fe,
Arts events in Santa Fe,
Literary Art events in Santa Fe.
