Seeds of Language Seeds of Stories: Nahat’á (Framework or Guiding Principles)

In partnership with AZ Humanities and the Labriola Center, this session is the third of a four-part creative writing program that is open to storytellers at all levels and to the general public. The four sessions will take place throughout February 2026 with a culminating event held at the Blue Corn Fest on Saturday, March 7, 2026. This is the third workshop session for Seeds of Language, Seeds of Stories, hosted by Manny Loley at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center.

About Workshop Session:

In this third session, we will expand on ideas from the first two sessions and move toward the physical/embodied aspect of language and storytelling. We will physically handle corn seeds/objects in some kind of way. This could look like creative exercises using physical corn seeds or corn objects, learning from a traditional knowledge holder and planting, or another kind of engagement activity. The idea is that we’ll be putting our ideas and writing about corn, planting, and growth into action through physical engagement with these materials. How does our understanding of language and storytelling change when we engage in physical action? What can this teach us about the connection between language/stories, knowledge, and our physical bodies? This third meeting will involve some physical aspect of engaging with the ideas we’ve discussed thus far, discussion, and potential writing exercises. Participants are also invited to share their creative work at an Indigenous Open Mic held at the ASU Labriola Center later in the evening.

Dr. Manny Loley is ‘Áshįįhi born for Tó Baazhní’ázhí; his maternal grandparents are the Tódích’íi’nii and his paternal grandparents are the Kinyaa’áanii. He holds a Ph.D. in English and Literary Arts from the University of Denver, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing-Fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Dr. Loley is an inaugural Indigenous Nations Poets Fellow, a founding member of Saad Bee Hózhǫ́: Diné Writers’ Collective, and the editor for Leading the Way: Wisdom of the Navajo People. Since 2018, he has served as director of the Emerging Diné Writers’ Institute. His work has found homes in Poetry Magazine, Pleiades Magazine, the Massachusetts Review, the Santa Fe Literary Review, Broadsided Press, the Arkansas International, The Gift of Animals, Nihikéyah: Navajo Homeland, and the Diné Reader: an Anthology of Navajo Literature, among others. His writing has been thrice nominated for Pushcart Prizes. Dr. Loley is at work on a novel titled They Collect Rain in Their Palms. He is from Tsétah Tó Ák’olí on the Navajo Nation.