Water Bodies - A Reading Event with Laura Paskus

Join us for readings from some of the writers and poets featured in Water Bodies: Love Letters to the Most Abundant Substance on Earth. Afterwards, journalist Laura Paskus will lead a brief panel discussion and Q&A from the audience.

About the Book

As the climate crisis simultaneously pinches water supplies and exacerbates flooding, some of the West’s most thoughtful journalists, poets, and writers remind us that water isn’t a natural resource to manage or a commodity to sell—nor do humans live out their lives at the scale of interstate river compacts, interbasin transfers, or 30- year projections. Rather, water is a force that’s beguiling and seductive—and a creature whose knowledge and will supersedes our own. This diverse group of contributors shares intimate stories of rivers and snow patches, swimming holes and ephemeral streams. They also explore how waters shape our landscapes and our consciousness as they consider what becomes endangered when we lose sight of the power of water.

About the Editor

Laura Paskus is a longtime reporter based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has worked for High Country News, Tribal College Journal, KUNM-FM, New Mexico Political Report, and Capital & Main, and currently, is a senior producer for NMPBS, where she hosts and produces the television show “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present, and Future.” Her 2020 book, At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for Nature/Environment.

About the Contributors

Michelle Otero is the author of Vessels: A Memoir of Borders, Bosque: Poems, and the essay collection Malinche's Daughter. She served as Albuquerque Poet Laureate from 2018-2020 and co-edited New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023 and 22 Poems & a Prayer for El Paso, a tribute to victims of the 2019 El Paso shooting and winner of a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. A coach, community-based artist, and racial healing practitioner, she is the founder of ArteSana Creative Consulting, dedicated to creative expression and storytelling as the basis for organizational development and positive social change. Originally from Deming, New Mexico, Otero holds a BA in History from Harvard College and an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College. She is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop.

Santana Shorty is a writer and poet from northern New Mexico. She received her BA from Stanford University and is currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her work focuses on New Mexican landscape and culture, and multiracial upbringing and love. Her poetry was recently published in Paperbark Literary Magazine and Identity Theory Literary Journal. She is currently working on her first novel. She is a member of the Navajo Nation and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Leanna T. Torres is a native daughter of the American Southwest, a Nuevomexicana writer who has worked as an environmental professional throughout the West since 2001. Her essays have been published in numerous print and online anthologies and platforms. Interested in the intersection where the ordinary meets the Divine, she’s always looking towards how natural facts reflect spiritual truths.

Fatima van Hattum has a PhD in Educational Thought and Sociocultural Studies from the University of New Mexico and works as Program Co-Director at New Mexico’s statewide women’s foundation. Her poetry has been featured in: CALYX Journal, Chapter House Journal, apt, Portland Review, and New Moons: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims. Her academic writing and satirical comics have been published in: Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, Intersections, Chicana/Latina Studies, and openDemocracy. She is from Abiquiú, New Mexico, is Muslim, and has a large, wonderful family and somewhat confusing background.

Books will be available for purchase at this event through Garcia Street Books!

For disability accommodations or translation needs, please contact Programs Manager for SFPL at (505) 955-6786 or (505) 955-2817