2026 MFACW July Evening Reading Series: Crisosto Apache, Toni Jensen, and Jamie Figueroa

Join the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) from Sunday, July 12, through Thursday, July 16, 2026, as the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFACW) program presents its 2026 July Residency, welcoming a new cohort of incoming graduate students. Visiting writers, acclaimed for their work in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and screenwriting, will read and perform alongside several of our full-time mentors. Each evening will engage audiences with poetry, memoir, or fiction from some of today’s most vibrant and vital voices.
We are pleased to invite the public to attend the July Evening Reading Series events, held in the CLE Commons Room 201 on the IAIA campus at 83 Avan Nu Po Road, Santa Fe, NM 87508.
All readings will be held in person and virtually via livestream on the IAIA website and Facebook. See links below to watch the livestreams. All readings are in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT).

July Evening Reading Series Events:
- Sunday, July 12 at 6:00 pm (MDT): Readings by Chris Santiago, Bojan Louis (Diné), and Brooke Swaney (Blackfeet Nation Citizen and Salish Descendant)—CLE Commons, IAIA Campus
- Monday, July 13 at 6:00 pm (MDT): Readings by Nicole Chung, Matias Viegner, and Layli Long Soldier (Oglala Lakota Nation)—CLE Commons, IAIA Campus
- Tuesday, July 14 at 6:00 pm (MDT): Readings by Jim Terry (Ho-Chunk), Aaron John Curtis (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe), and Sherwin Bitsui (Diné)—CLE Commons, IAIA Campus
- Wednesday, July 15 at 6:00 pm (MST): Film Screening featuring Wenonah Wilms (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) of Wilms Films—IAIA Auditorium, IAIA Campus, no livestream available
- Thursday, July 16 at 6:00 pm (MDT): Readings by Crisosto Apache (Mescalero Apache, Chiricahua Apache, and Diné) ’15, Toni Jensen (Métis), and Jamie Figueroa (Boricua)—CLE Commons, IAIA Campus

All readings are open and free to the public. We hope to see you there!
For questions, please contact IAIA MFACW Program Coordinator Veronica Bustamante at veronica.bustamante@iaia.edu.

Biographies:
Crisosto Apache is originally from Mescalero, New Mexico (US), on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, and currently lives in the Denver metro area in Colorado. Crisosto is also the current 11th Poet Laureate for Colorado (2026–27), appointed by Governor Jared Polis on Wednesday, January 28, 2026. Crisosto is Mescalero Apache, Chiricahua Apache, and Diné (Navajo) of the ‘Áshįįhí (Salt Clan) born for the Kinyaa’áanii (Towering House Clan), and is an Associate Professor of English writing and Creative writing at the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design. Apache holds an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Crisosto’s debut collection, GENESIS (Lost Alphabet), is out of print. Crisosto’s second poetry collection is Ghostword (Gnashing Teeth Publication), winner of the 2023 Betty Berzon Emerging Writers Award and a finalist for the Colorado Authors League Award in poetry. Apache’s newest poetry is(ness) was also published by Gnashing Teeth in 2025. Crisosto is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and is currently an editor-at-large for The Offing. Crisosto continues to advocate for the Native American Indigenous LGBTQ/Two-Spirit identity. Apache’s dedication to poetry remains a passion, and teaching poetry to the youth is a continued goal.