Laura Tohe, a professor of English at Arizona State University, has been named poet laureate of the Navajo Nation. She will serve in this role until 2017.
Professor Tohe grew up on the Navajo reservation in Crystal, New Mexico, which was a four-hour round trip to the nearest library. She notes that “since we didn’t have television, reading was a way out of the rez for me. Books took me to other places in the world and to other time eras.”
Dr. Tohe has served on the faculty at Arizona State University since 1994. She is the author of four books including Tséyi’/Deep in the Rock: Reflections on Canyon de Chelly (University of Arizona Press, 2005).
Professor Tohe is a graduate of the University of New Mexico, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska.