Located on the first floor of Hayden Library, the Luhrs Arizona Reading Room is a reading room that is open to all. An interactive collections exhibit space invites visitors to explore the scope and variety of print collections pertaining to Arizona.
Black Speculative Fiction
This book collection serves as a compendium to the exhibit celebrating the understanding of the umbrella term Black Speculative Fiction and its representation within the Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and (Alternate) History fiction genres.
Black Speculative Fiction uses forward-looking perspectives from Black and African creators to imagine a better future for Black and African American people across the globe. With these new identities created by the Diaspora through Black Speculative Fiction, we reclaim our erased and colonized identities and reckon with the horrors wrought upon us by the legacy of colonialism. Our contested place in history is reimagined and used as a blueprint to seize our identity and future as Black and African American people.
This book collection also supports the Griots and Galaxies podcast, which examines Black Speculative Fiction as a tool for social and technological change. The podcast is a production in partnership with the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University and includes publications by two of its podcast hosts, Chinelo Onwualu and Yvette Lisa Ndlovu.
CantoMundo presents Latinx Poetry
CantoMundo is a national poetry organization that cultivates a community of Latinx poets through workshops, symposia, public readings, and publications.
CantoMundo's dedication to Latinx poets and poetry among a diverse range of Latinx communities seeks to nurture generations of bi- and multi-lingual writers and readers. Since 2010, we have hosted annual retreats and regional readings and workshops and have partnered with organizations focused on immigrant rights, veteran support, and young writers to bring poetry to new communities and to bring new voices and aesthetics to American poetry. CantoMundo is currently housed at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University.
Crafting Poetic Form
What role does form play in the art of poetry? The Crafting Poetic Form collection investigates this very question. While poetry is sometimes perceived as 'not for everyone' or as ‘elite,’ many modern poets work against these tropes to make poetry more accessible. One way to make poetry more accessible to contemporary audiences is by playing with the idea of form. These highlighted poets have established new poetic forms, experimented with various forms in their published works, offered visual representations, or tried something entirely new. Form can offer structure in rhymes and rhythm, but form can also convey meaning or portray an image on the page.
This collection was designed for both casual readers and those newer to the craft, and also for budding poets and experimental poets. If you seek inspiration, solace, intimacy and more, feel free to browse through this collection.
Thank you to ASU librarians and library staff Leela Denver, Maxana Goettl, Shari Laster, and Sierra Schuman for their contributions. A special thanks to Julie Swarstad Johnson and Sarah Kortemeier from the University of Arizona Poetry Center for sharing their expertise. To learn more, please visit poetry.arizona.edu.
Honor Hispanic and Latinx Heritage
This collection serves to commemorate Hispanic and Latinx communities through their influence and contributions to American society. We dedicate this collection to the authors and directors who shared stories of their experiences and culture through the written word and cinema. This featured collection was curated by archivists, library staff, librarians and members of the El Concilio student coalition.
Luhrs Arizona Reading Room Collection
An open stack collection in the Luhrs Arizona Reading Room features books and materials concerning Arizona and the southwest region. Materials in this collection reflect the Greater Arizona Collection, the Chicano/a Research Collection and the Labriola National American Indian Data Center.
#Landback
Indigenous Peoples are deeply connected to the lands they come from. Our spirituality, language, songs, stories, and ways of life express our relationships with our lands. At all ASU campuses, you are on Akimel O’oodham je:ved (O’odham word translating to land/Earth). Due to the lack of settler consciousness in today’s society, the Indigenous #LandBack movement is a way to assert Indigenous sovereignty through political advocacy and direct action. The goals of the Land Back movement align with past Native activist movements like the Red Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, #IdleNoMore in 2012, and #NoDAPL in 2016, to name a few. These movements sought to protect Indigenous land and culture by any means necessary. Since many students may not be aware of contemporary Indigenous cultures and activism, Labriola would like to continue to celebrate, acknowledge, and educate our University about efforts like #LandBack. We feel our heritage should be celebrated beyond Native American Heritage Month. Labriola Center’s mission with this display is to share crucial contemporary contributions to Indigenous Peoples to society. This book display consists of six different themes focused on Indigenous self-empowerment and self-determination. Indigenous and non-Indigneous people will gain a better understanding of Indigeneity and Indigenous resiliency, and of how we thrive in the 21st century.
Marching Forth: Stonewall Book Awards
Early on June 28, 1969, a police raid on the iconic Stonewall Inn sparked protests and demonstrations that helped define the modern LGBT+ rights movement. Although it was not the beginning of the LGBT+ rights movement, the Stonewall Riots were pivotal in setting the movement on a larger stage, leading to the formation of numerous activist groups and attracting hundreds of thousands of new activists into the fold.
The American Library Association (ALA)’s Rainbow Round Table was founded in 1970, originally designated as the Task Force on Gay Liberation. The following year, the first Stonewall Book Award was presented to Isabel Miller’s book entitled Patience and Sarah. Since its inception, the Rainbow Round Table has awarded at least one Stonewall Book Award yearly and recognized many more titles as Stonewall Honor Books. Now, an award is presented in each of the categories of Nonfiction, Literature, Poetry, and Children’s & Young Adult Literature.
This display highlights winners of the Stonewall Book Award from every era in celebration of LGBT+ representation and its evolution through history. Books from every genre are included in this collection, serving as a reminder that LGBT+ people are everywhere and deserve to be recognized.