The National Writers Union will be hosting a reading and open mic on Monday, September 16, starting at 6:00 p.m. in Tucson. Our featured reader this month will be Naomi Ortiz. Naomi is a facilitator, writer, poet, and visual artist. She is a Disabled, Mestiza (Latina/ Indigenous/ White), raised in Latinx culture, living in the U.S./Mexico borderlands. Naomi has written for the Feminist Wire, Poems and Numbers, VIDA and has contributed to the anthology, Resistance and Hope: Essays by Disabled People. She will be reading from her recently published book, Sustaining Spirit (Reclamation Press), written for activists, that is about how to avoid burn-out by balancing “activism with self-care by guiding readers to sink into poetic metaphor and examine their relationship to self, community, and place.”

The open mic is for spoken word only, but is open to all forms of spoken word (fiction, essays, poetry, articles, polemics, etc.). So bring something to read!

The event will be held at the AFSCME/SEIU Union Hall at 877 S. Alvernon Way in Tucson. The building is on the east side of the street (opposite the Randolph Park golf range) and is a couple of blocks north of 22nd Street. There is ample parking. The room is on the first floor and we will have signs up to point the way.

NWU Tucson Friday morning breakfasts will be on hiatus until December 20. Check back for dates. They take place at 9:00 a.m. at Laverna's Coffee Shop. The address is 220 S. Plumer, which is one block south of Broadway, on the west side of Plumer.