Rita Dove, Sandra Cisneros, and Joy Harjo Are Coming to Phoenix Art Museum

Christmas is coming early for poetry and fiction lovers. Phoenix Art Museum is bringing three literary legends together for a night of readings on Friday, December 1.

Rita Dove, Sandra Cisneros, and Joy Harjo will read from their work and take part in a discussion about their careers and the impact their writing has made over the years.

All three women have garnered acclaim for their work.

A Pulitzer Prize winner, poet, essayist, and playwright, Rita Dove is also a former U.S. poet laureate. She edited The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry and served as a Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She also has some history with the Valley: The multi-award-winning poet taught creative writing at Arizona State University from 1981 to 1989.

Sandra Cisneros is best known for writing The House on Mango Street. The novelist, poet, short story writer, and essayist has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Medal of the Arts, and the PEN Center USA Literary Award. The first female Mexican-American author published by a mainstream publisher, she's helped pave the way for Chicana authors to cross over.

Joy Harjo has published eight books of poetry and a memoir. She's been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the United States Artist Fellowship, the William Carlos Williams Award, the 2015 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, the PEN USA Literary Award for Creative Non-Fiction, and the American Book Award. She's also an award-winning musician and recording artist.

The readings will begin at 7 p.m. on December 1. Admission for the event is free, but it is ticketed. While tickets aren't yet available, attendees will be able to reserve their spots through the Phoenix Art Museum website. The event is expected to reach capacity.

It's being presented in partnership with ArchiTEXTS: A Conversation Across Languages with Natalie Diaz. The event is supported by the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, the Superstition Review, the ASU Creative Writing Program, the Literary & Prologue Society, and the Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Chair in Modern and Contemporary Poetry.

Editor's note: This article has been updated from its original version.