SAR Literary Days

• 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Literary Walk, Lunch, & Readings (Morning Option)
• 12:00–4:00 p.m. Literary Walk, Lunch, & Readings (Afternoon Option) 

Begin with a Literary Walk of the campus. Then join us at noon for a provided lunch (wraps, salad, and dessert) in our historic Chapel—now the Dobkin Boardroom—while listening to readings by Santa Fe Poet Laureate Tommy Archuleta, Diné writer and filmmaker Ramona Emerson, and Santa Fe native and Indigenous poet and performer Natachee Momaday Gray. Stop by the SAR Press table to view a selection of titles including poetry and art books by Native American authors. One SAR Press gift book included with your registration.

10:00 a.m. – Literary Walk of SAR Campus
12:00 p.m. – Lunch and readings in the historic Chapel 

 $75/person. Limited space. Registration required. 

Join us at noon for a provided lunch (wraps, salad, and dessert) in our historic Chapel—now the Dobkin Boardroom—while listening to readings by Santa Fe Poet Laureate Tommy Archuleta and Diné writer and filmmaker Ramona Emerson, and Santa Fe native and Indigenous poet and performer Natachee Momaday Gray. Stop by the SAR Press table to view a selection of titles including poetry and art books by Native American authors. One SAR Press gift book included with your registration. Meet at 2:00 p.m. for a Literary Walk of the campus. 

12:00 p.m. – Lunch and readings in the historic Chapel
2:00 p.m. – Literary Walk of SAR Campus 

 $75/person. Limited space. Registration required.

Walk the winding paths of Amelia Elizabeth and Martha White’s residence while learning about its ties to the literary history of Santa Fe. A public space from the beginning, their Chapel hosted over 200 people at the Poet’s Roundup founded by Alice Corbin Henderson, editor of Poetry Magazine. Alice’s husband, William Penhallow Henderson, designed many of the buildings. Plays were performed frequently, many written by Martha and featuring Jane, the wife of neighbor Gustave Baumann. Gus and Jane Baumann put on puppet shows for the public inside the Chapel. In 1938, Thornton Wilder introduced poets in what is today SAR’s Dobkin Boardroom. 

During the literary tour, we will hear the words of neighbors, former resident scholars, and artists who share their breath with us in this place, including poets Alice Corbin and Witter Bynner, Fray Angélico Chávez, Peggy Pond Church, Santa Fe character Will Shuster, and former resident scholars such as Rina Swentzell and Pulitzer Prize winning author N. Scott Momaday (House Made of Dawn). 

Tours may be subject to creative modification in case of inclement weather. 

Presented in partnership with the Santa Fe International Literary Festival. Purchase your tickets today!

Tommy Archuleta is a native-born, northern New Mexican. He works as a mental health therapist for the New Mexico Corrections Department. Appointed Santa Fe Poet Laureate, Archuleta will serve in this capacity through 2025. Recently, his work appeared in the New England Review, Laurel Review, Lily Poetry Review, The Cortland Review, Guesthouse, and the Poem-a-Day series sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. Susto, his full-length debut collection, published by the Center for Literary Publishing, is a 2023 Mountain/West Poetry Series title. Susto is featured in the November/December 2023 issue of Poets & Writers as part of its annual “5 Over 50” article. He lives and writes on the Cochiti Reservation. 

Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. Her debut novel, Shutter, was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Bram Stoker Award, nominated for the Edgar for Best First Novel, a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards for Best First Novel, and winner of the Lefty Award for Best First Novel. She has a BA in Media Arts from the University of New Mexico and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband, the producer Kelly Byars, run their production company Reel Indian Pictures

Natachee Momaday Gray is a Santa Fe native and Indigenous poet and performer. Her work focuses on the melding of art and myth, ancestry and nostalgia, food and prayer, glamour, frivolity and time. She comes from a long lineage of storytellers and honors this tradition by bringing a charm and seduction to stories overlooked and undertold. Moving beyond English, Spanish, and the blood memory of the Plains people, she expresses a boundless and exuberant identity, often using the alias Tatja Lucía. She holds numerous awards including the Lena Todd award for poetry and recently was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of Small Presses. Her debut poetry collection, Silver Box from Finishing Line Press, is widely celebrated and was voted Best New Book by a New Mexico Author in the Reporter’s 2023 Best of Santa Fe issue. A new mother, she is working on a new manuscript chronicling her journey into motherhood. She lives on a small farm with her family in Coyote, NM.