Our annual dinner, now in its fifth year, brings established and aspiring writers together to celebrate and inspire each other. Proceeds from the dinner provide funds to support outreach and grant making endeavors that assist New Mexico writers seeking to further their craft.
Our 2023 dinner includes happy hour, raffles, a celebration of new grantees, and a keynote address by author Pat Mora.
Mora is a well-known literacy advocate. In 1996, she founded Children’s Day / Book Day, establishing April 30 as the annual Children’s Day / Book Day, a nationwide celebration of what Mora describes as “bookjoy."
Mora and her partners, which include the American Library Association, REFORMA, National Council of Teachers of English, and First Book, work together year-round to promote this initiative to creatively link all children and families to books.
Mora is also the celebrated author of books for adults and young readers. The Washington Post described her family memoir, House of Houses as a “textual feast…a regenerative act…and an eloquent bearer of the old truth that it is through the senses that we apprehend love.” In 2018, the University of Arizona Press published her seventh adult poetry collection, Encantado: Desert Monologues. With her daughter, Libby Martinez, Mora wrote the children’s books I Pledge Allegiance and Bravo, Chico Canta! Bravo!
