When My Brother Was an Aztec, by Natalie Diaz
Sigma Tau Delta’s Convention Committee and 2025 Convention Co-Chairs are pleased to announce the Common Reader is Natalie Diaz’s When My Brother Was an Aztec. This collection of heartbreaking, humorous, beautiful, and informed poetry often shines a light on difficult themes of addiction and cultural identity. But the author’s voice draws attention from the mere details of daily life. Instead, with her skillful crafting and classical references, Diaz makes us aware of the power of poetry to make us feel in awe of words and of their arrangement on the page. From the romantic and sensual “Monday Aubade” to the painful beauty of “A Brother Named Gethsemane,” Diaz reminds us that every lived moment is both lovely and haunting. And in spite of the humor present in “Hand-Me-Down Halloween,” we are left dealing with the need for social justice and cultural equality.
Since the Common Reader began as a way of tying service projects to literature and literary values, When My Brother Was an Aztec allows chapters to consider ways they might address particular needs and issues in their own communities. Perhaps the book will be a call to action, inspiring new service projects on your campus. The examination of cultural identity, family relationships, addiction, and love should inspire many opportunities for projects and discussion. And the desire to examine particular issues or individual poems will provide endless discussions for community book clubs, campus book clubs, podcasts, or convention papers and panels. This collection of poetry is a gift to every person who loves literature. The powerful experience of reading Natalie Diaz’s work is the reason we selected it for the 2025 Common Reader.
Common Reader Convention Awards
Awards of up to $600 will be given at the annual convention for critical essays or other genres of work that deal with the common reader. To be eligible, students select in the submission form that their work is on the Common Reader.