On March 24 and 25, Dana Maya will be visiting Viterbo University for a variety of events. Maya is a poet, essayist, editor, and teacher. She began writing in grade school, where she was encouraged by several teachers as well as her father.
Maya now uses her poetry to explore the world around her. “The best inspiration for your writing is your everyday life. The extraordinary is always in the ordinary, if you pay attention to it,” she explains. Common topics for her poetry include nature, her family, her Mexican lineage, and anything else that catches her attention.
She strives to use her poetry as a vessel for social change. Maya has been a member of the Spontaneous Writing Booth Collective for 15 years, where a group of poets get together to write on-demand poems to raise money for organizations.
Dana Maya is excited to visit campus, share her stories, and get to know the Viterbo community. “I can’t wait to meet Viterbo students in their natural habitat and find out about their studies and other passions!” she says. Maya hopes students will come ready for conversations, bringing their own curiosity and creativity with them. She believes that even if someone doesn’t plan to go into writing or art as a profession; “it’s important to remember that your creative self never leaves you; the kid in you that drew pictures and played make-believe will always be there and that core place is where all art comes from.”
On Monday, March 25, Dana Maya will be at the 11:15 a.m Spanish 306 class, a lunch at 12:30 pm., and a 6:00 p.m. Latinx Tri-State Professional Network event. On Tuesday, March 25, Maya will be at the Inclusion Center from 3:00-4:00 p.m. for Coffee and Conversation, and in Campus Ministry for Ekphrastic Poetry at 6:00 p.m. Don’t miss these incredible opportunities to meet and talk with Dana Maya.
