Laura Tohe, Arizona Poet Laureate
Laura Tohe is an award-winning poet, writer, scholar, and educator who was recently named the Arizona Poet Laureate, becoming the second person in the state’s history to hold the title. Born in Fort Defiance, Arizona, Dr. Tohe grew up bilingual, speaking both Diné bizaad (Navajo) and English—an experience that continues to shape her literary voice and cultural perspective.
Dr. Tohe is Professor Emerita of English at Arizona State University, where she taught for 24 years and mentored generations of writers. She previously served as Poet Laureate of the Navajo Nation from 2015 to 2019, a role in which she championed Indigenous storytelling, language preservation, and community-based literary arts.Her work has been published nationally and internationally, spanning poetry, creative nonfiction, and oral history. Among her most widely recognized books is Code Talker Stories, an oral history collection featuring interviews with Navajo Code Talkers and their descendants. The book stands as a vital literary and historical record of Navajo contributions during World War II.
Over the course of her career, Laura Tohe has received numerous honors, including the 2025 Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award, the Academy of Poets Fellowship Award (2020–2021), and the 2019 American Indian Festival of Words Writer’s Award. She has also been recognized with the Faculty Exemplar Award from Arizona State University and the Dan Shilling Public Scholar Award from Arizona Humanities, and she has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize.
Dr. Tohe holds a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, further grounding her work in both scholarly and creative traditions. As Arizona Poet Laureate, she follows Alberto Álvaro Ríos, who served two consecutive terms from 2014 to 2018.Through her poetry, scholarship, and public service, Laura Tohe continues to elevate Indigenous voices, strengthen Arizona’s literary landscape, and affirm the power of poetry as a living, communal art form.