A Little About Me
Esther Belin (Diné) is among the myriad of indigenous peoples on the planet to survive in urbanized areas. She is a graduate from the following institutions: UC Berkeley, IAIA, Antioch University. She considers the following locations her homeland: LA, Durango, Diné bike'yah. Her writing and art grows from and is an offering to the collective humanity, bila' ashdla'ii.
Esther is the author of two poetry books and coeditor of The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature. Belin’s visual art combines a variety of disciplines and works to reframe the mythical primitivism often associated with Indigenous cultures. She is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and lives on the Colorado side of the four corners. Belin is a member of Saad Bee Hózhǫ́: Diné Writers’ Collective, and teaches in the Native American and Indigenous studies department at Fort Lewis College and in the low-residency MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Upcoming Events
Meet the Durango Poet Laureates
An Evening with the Durango Poet Laureates
Monday, February 26, 2024,
6:00pm - 7:00pm
Location:
Durango Public Library, Room 1&2 Combined
Come out and meet your new Poet Laureates, Durango! Join us for a short reading, followed by a Q+A with Esther Belin and Zoe Golden. Light refreshments will be served.
Poet Esther Belin
Lunch Poems Reading + Craft Talk
Thursday, March 7, 2024
12-1pm: Lunch Poems Reading, Morrison Library, UC Berkeley
4-5:15pm: Craft Talk, Arts Research Center, Hearst Field Annex, D23, UC Berkeley
The Arts Research Center in collaboration with the English Department welcomes Esther Belin to a reading at Lunch Poems, Berkeley’s storied noontime poetry series, followed by a Craft Talk later in the afternoon, free and open to the public.
Past Events
Making of "buffalo soldiers: reVision"
Film Screening and Panel Discussion
Tuesday, February 20, 2024,
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Location: Center of Southwest Studies Lyceum, Fort Lewis College
Join us for a special screening of Making of buffalo soldiers: reVision, a film following eight well-known contemporary artists from around the U.S. as they create the dynamic and thought-provoking exhibition buffalo soldiers: reVision at History Colorado's Fort Garland Museum & Cultural Center. The film screening will be followed by a discussion with Johnny Taylor Valdez and artists Chip Thomas, Esther Belin, and Rosie Carter.
Language Back: A Reading & Conversation with Indigenous Poets, Sponsored by Indigenous Nations Poets
Friday, February 9,
10:35 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. CT
Ballroom A, Level 2, Kansas City, MO Convention Center
Simultaneous with the contemporary Land Back movement of Tribal Nations is an equally urgent call for Indigenous literary sovereignty. This focus on writing Indigenous includes a strong push for creators to employ tribal languages and their inherent structures—for Language Back. Poet contributors to The Diné Reader, Jake Skeets, Luci Tapahonso, and Esther Belin, will read recent work and discuss how their creative work maps itself at the intersections of tribal language, poetic form, and place.
Get in touch
Hello! I would love to hear from you about my artwork and writing. Feel free to send a comment or question using this form. Thank you, Esther.