Tucson Festival of Books

Laura Da'

Timothy Aguero

Laura Da’ is a poet and teacher. A lifetime resident of the Pacific Northwest, Da’ studied creative writing at the University of Washington and The Institute of American Indian Arts. She has served as Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington, and Poet Planner for King County, Washington. She is the author of "Tributaries," an American Book Award winner, "Instruments of the True Measure," a Washington State Book Award winner, and "Severalty." Da’ is Eastern Shawnee and lives in Washington with her family.

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Awards: American Book Award; Washington State Book Award

Communities: Indigenous or Native American, Mixed Race, Person with a Disability

Scheduled events:

Laura Da'

Severalty Severalty begins in a garden and moves through ancestral and contemporary hometowns that shimmer between wholeness and severing. In these poems, river currents tick with the intrusion of the clock’s lavish precincts. From powerfully compressed lyrical fragments to pulsing narrative sequences, Severalty shifts perspectives to examine devastation and healing, transience and seasonality, loss and resurrection. With clear roots in her first two books of poetry, Tributaries and Instruments of the True Measure, this volume joins the author’s poetic trilogy with a deeply personal accounting of history, community, and selfhood. Weaving the past and present into a stunning tapestry, this collection is a powerful testament to Indigenous endurance and creativity, offering readers a deeply insightful and necessary work.

University of Arizona Press, Booth #247 (Seats 1)
Sun, Mar 15, 2:00 pm - 2:50 pm
Poetry

Author: Laura Da'

Books:

Severalty

Poems
Poetry
University of Arizona Press
September 2025
ISBN 9780816554591
112 pages

Tributaries

Poetry
University of Arizona Press
April 2015
ISBN 9780816531554
88 pages