Guest Column | ASU hosts ‘Book Talk’ with Amber McCrary, Kinsale Drake

ASU hosts ‘Book Talk’ with Amber McCrary, Kinsale Drake
By Bazhnibah

On a warm sunny day, we wound up at the Hayden Library on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe. There, we hustled to get to the scheduled “Book Talk” that was buzzing on Facebook. We arrived, and students and others were gathering in the Labriola National American Indian Data Center where the two Diné poets and authors were going to give a book talk.

Courtesy | Bazhnibah
Kinsale Drake, a Diné poet, discussed her process of writing at ASU’s Hayden Library Labriola Center on Friday, Feb 28. Drake is a graduate of Yale University and is the founder/director of NDN Girls Book Club.

Amber McCrary is a poet, a zinester, and a feminist who has recently published “Blue Corn Tongue: Poems in the Mouth of the Desert.” Published by UAPress 2025, it is a collection of about 40 poems on corn, love, landscape, relationships, culture, and more. From her book, she read several of her poems at the Book Talk. One in particular, “Blue Corn Woman,” relates to the color blue, corn, sacred Navajo mountains, and being a Diné woman. The poem is written inside the shape of two Navajo sacred mountains: “I am a blue corn woman. My kernels round and momentous like Tsoodził. A blue Nadą́ą́’ dancing freely. Cerebral Cerulean geek of flint. My blue corn hips swerve in rivers, valleys, hallways and alleys to the rhythm of Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love.” Oh she is getting her love with those intrepid blur corn cheekbones defying gravity and dissolution with a smile that echoes through salmon-colored Canyons big enough to dam all of the poison put in our blood. My blue corn body. A female mountain like Dook’o’oosłííd Flourishes and building with pollen for protection thick husks for harsh times & a strong stalk of a family for hellish winds. Grind me. Metate me. Nourish me. And I will give you life ííná.”

Amber’s work can be found in the “Yellow Medicine Review, POETRY, Poets and Writers, Blue Stockings Magazine, Hayden’s Ferry Review,” and others. She is a recipient of the AZ Humanities Rising Star Award and the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Award. Amber is founder and owner of Abalone Mountain Press.

Kinsale Drake, another young Diné poet, also read from her book, “The Sky was Once a Dark Blanket,” which is also a collection of poems covering the Southwest landscape and the relationships between the people and the land, family, music, and the different generations of the Diné. The book was published by the University of Georgia Press in Fall 2024. Her work has won book awards, such as the Academy of American Poets Prize and the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, and one of five winners of the 2023 National Poetry Series for her poetry collection. Her poems have appeared in “Poetry,” in Best New Poets, Poetry Northwest, Black Warrior Review, NPR, and was featured in Time, Nylon, and Indian Country Today.

In addition to being a writer/poet, Kinsale is also the founder and director of the NDN Girls Book Club which is a literary nonprofit that highlights Indigenous authors and encourages the youth to read. Wherever she can, she gifts books written by Native American writers to the Indigenous communities free. The young women who get these books are thrilled to get these books as they are not able to afford them at the bookstores in town or cannot find them in local reservation stores.

Courtesy | Bazhnibah
Poet Amber McCrary is Kinłichíi’nii and born for the Naakaii Dine’é. Her maternal grandfather is Áshįįhí and her paternal grandfather is Ta’neeszahnii from Tuba City. At the Book Talk, she discussed the topics in her book, Blue Corn Tongue.

At the book talk, Kinsale also read several of her poems from her book. Her reading style is rhythmic and seems to flow and ebb like a song which I found to be soothing and full of imagery as she read. Her readings were like performance art. Amber’s poetry reading style is like a conversation between herself and her audience. It is easy to follow her words.

Both also have sound poetry like Shhh, hágo shhh, and Ł. Both use Navajo words such as K’é, ííná, shimá, ajéí, naadą́ą́’, didzé, dilchxoshí, dloh, and tsiiyéel in their poetry. Both write about music, about Rez life, about communities, and sacred things. I found both to be traditional modern young women who are fascinated by life, by youth, by their culture, and family. I enjoyed being with them even for a short time. They are both determined and busy women, and I hope that they write more in their future work.