Indigenous Futures: The James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets: Readings with Alexis Clifton, Casandra López, and Santee Frazier

James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets is named for Blackfeet and Gros Ventre writer James Welch, whose early poems were featured in Poetry Northwest and who went on to become one of the region’s most important writers, credited with helping to lead the Native American Renaissance in the 60s and 70s. Presented in partnership with Poetry Northwest, In-Na-Po (Indigenous Nations Poets), and People s Poetry Gathering partners. The People’s Poetry Gathering is co-presented by City Lore, Bowery Poetry, and Poets House. Founded as a biennial event in 1999 by City Lore and Poets House, with Bowery Poetry joining soon after, The People’s Poetry Gathering assembles poets from New York City and beyond to pursue discourse, exchange, and cultural preservation through poetry. In 2026, the Gathering returns to Lower Manhattan for the first time in twenty years. Find other People s Poetry Gathering programs at Poets House HERE Find a comprehensive list of all People’s Poetry Gathering programs HERE The suggested donation for this event is $10. All donations benefit Poets House. You will be able to choose your contribution amount when you RSVP online or at the door. All are welcome; no one will be turned away for lack of funds. By attending or participating in this program, you agree to abide by our Community Agreement. Events at Poets House are popular, and seating is first-come, first-served. About the Poets: Alexis Clifton is a Lipan Apache, Choctaw, and Wixárika writer and poet, and an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb. Born of the south and raised lakeside, location and place are at the center of her words. She has award-winning work published in magazines like Bending Genres, The Amazine, Susurrus Litmag, and more, and was shortlisted for the Coppice Prize in 2025. You can find her at the farmers’ market, her garden, a bonfire, or on Instagram. Casandra López is a California Indian (Tongva/Luiseño) and Chicana writer who has received support from CantoMundo, Bread Loaf, and Sewanee. She’s the author of the poetry collection Brother Bullet and has been selected for residencies with Storyknife, Hedgebrook, and Macdowell. She is an Assistant Professor at UC San Diego and a Tongva language learner. Currently, she is working on We Are Singing Forever / Che’eenaxre Horuura’, a hybrid poetry collection informed by docupoetics and Indigenous language revitalization. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Santee Frazier earned a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts and an MFA from Syracuse University. His first collection of poems, Dark Thirty (2009), was published by the University of Arizona Press, which released his second collection, Aurum, in 2019. Frazier s honors include a Lannan Foundation Residency Fellowship, the School for Advanced Research Indigenous Writer-in-Residence, the Native Arts Culture Foundation Literature Fellowship, and an Amant Studio Research Residency Fellowship in Siena, Italy. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Colgate University.