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Wednesday, November 11, 10-11:30am (MST, same as Mountain Time)

Alberto Ríos, Every Sound Is Not a Wolf

Alberto Ríos is an acclaimed author, National Book Award finalist, and Arizona’s inaugural Poet Laureate. The author of more than a dozen celebrated books of poetry, prose, and memoir, Ríos has spent decades serving as one of the Southwest’s most beloved literary voices. Born and raised in the border town of Nogales, Arizona, his deep roots in the region inform his entire body of work. Through a rich blend of magical realism, gentle humor, and profound reverence for daily life, Ríos captures the nuanced rhythms, unique landscapes, and enduring warmth of communities along the U.S.–Mexico border. His poetry seamlessly bridges geographic, cultural, and spiritual boundaries, revealing the extraordinary beauty hidden within the ordinary moments of borderland life.

In his latest collection, Every Sound Is Not a Wolf (2025), Ríos explores the delicate connections between human beings, personal memory, and the vibrant natural world. Written almost entirely in couplets, the poems invite readers to slow down and listen closely to the subtle harmonies of existence—balancing grief with joy, the physical with the spiritual, and the real or imagined lines that define our borders. With extraordinary care, sensory detail, and quiet power, Ríos prods the quiet soundscapes of Southern Arizona, transforming simple daily observations into a moving celebration of community resilience, family heritage, and shared story.

“Ríos prods the soundscape of the Southwest, forging deliberate and attentive paths... He repeatedly transforms the Mexican American borderlands into a ready feast, a continuing festival, a traveling circus of imaginary delights.”— Diego Báez, Booklist

“Alberto Ríos is a poet of reverie and magical perception, and of the threshold between this world and the world just beyond.” — The New Yorker

BLFC Archive

View the rest of the BLFC archive on Vimeo:

2026

• Craig Childs, “Tracing Time: Seasons of Rock Art on the Colorado Plateau” (July 8, 2026)

• Daisy Hernández, “Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth” (June 10, 2026)

• Carolyn Niethammer, “A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson’s Culinary Heritage” (May 13, 2026)

• Luke Takata and Jack Dash, “The Atascosa Borderlands: A Living Archive of this Unique Arizona-Sonora Region” (April 8, 2026)

• Jason de León, “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling” (February 11, 2026)

• Seth Michelson, “Hope on the Border: Immigration, Incarceration, and the Power of Poetry” (January 14, 2026)

2025

• Joseph Mathew-Varghese, “The Long Walk of Carlos Guerrero” (December 10, 2025)

• Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, “Heaven Has a Wall: Religion, Borders, and the Global United States (November 12, 2025)

• Reyna Grande, “The Distance Between Us” (September 10, 2025)

• Tim Z. Hernandez, author of “All They Will Call You” (August 13, 2025)

• David Damian Figueroa & Gale Hall, authors of “El Oz” and “Lili’s Quilt” (July 9, 2025)

• Ken Lamberton, author of “Dry River: Stories of Life, Death, and Redemption on the Santa Cruz” (June 12, 2025)

• Barbara Sostaita, author of “Sanctuary Everywhere” (April 9, 2025)

• Mike Wilson and José Antonio Lucero, authors of “What Side Are You On? A Tohono O'odham Life Across Borders” (February 12, 2025)

• Gary Paul Nabhan, author of “Against the American Grain” (January 8, 2025)

2024

• Melani Martinez, author of “The Molino: A Memoir” (December 11, 2024)

• Sarah Towle, author of “Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands” (October 9, 2024)

• Jared Orsi, author of "Recovering the Lost History and Culture of Quitobaquito" (September 11, 2024)

• Marie Arana, author of “Latinoland: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority” (August 14, 2024)

• Dora Rodriguez, author of “On Migration and Amnesty” (July 10, 2024)

• “Coronado: the New Evidence”, produced by Frances Causey and featuring Dr. Deni Seymour (June 12, 2024)

• Renata Golden, author of “Mountain Time: A Field Guide to Astonishment” (May 8, 2024)

• Héctor Tobar, author of “Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of ‘Latino’” (April 10, 2024)

• John B Washington, author of “The Case for Open Borders” (February 14, 2024)

• Krista Schlyer, author of “Continental Divide: Wildlife, People, and the Border Wall” (January 10, 2024)

2023

• Henry Barajas, “La Voz de M.A.Y.O.: Tato Rambo” (December 13, 2023)

• Alejandra Oliva, “Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration” (November 8, 2023)

• Seth Schermerhorn, Bernard Siquieros, Regina Siquieros, “Pilgrimage to Magdalena” (October 11, 2023)

• Tom Zoellner, “Rim to River: Looking Into the Heart of Arizona” (August 9, 2023)

• Tom Sheridan, “Landscapes of Fraud: Mission Tumacacori, the Baca Float, and the Betrayal of the O’odham” (July 12, 2023)

• Andrew Selee, “Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together” (June 14, 2023)

• Lydia Otero, “In the Shadow of the Freeway: Growing Up Brown and Queer” (May 10, 2023)

• Luis Alberto Urrea, “The Hummingbird’s Daughter,” “Into the Beautiful North,” and “The Devil’s Highway” (April 12, 2023)

• Gary Paul Nabhan, “The Nature of Desert Nature” (February 8, 2023)

• Greg Grandin, “End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America” (January 11, 2023)

2022

• Bill Steen, “Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonora Borderlands” by Linda Ronstadt with Lawrence Downs (December 14, 2022)

• Reyna Grande and Sonia Guiñansaca, “Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings” (November 9, 2022)

• Jenn Budd, “Against the Wall: My Journey from Border Patrol Agent to Immigrant Rights Activist” (October 12, 2022)

• Dr. Toni Munoz-Hunt discusses the topic of Bordercanos (August 10, 2022)

• Athena Swentzell Steen discusses the topic of Southwest Desert-Adapted Architecture (July 13, 2022)

• Daniel Cooper Alarcon discusses the topic of the history and mythology of Aztlan (June 8, 2022)

• Javier Zamora, “Unaccompanied” and “Solito” (May 11, 2022)

• Scott Buchanan discusses the topic of children’s and youth literature in the borderlands (April 13, 2022)

• Todd Miller, “Build Bridges, Not Walls: A Journey to a World Without Borders” (February 9, 2022)

• Wynne Brown, “The Forgotten Botanist: Sara Plummer Lemmon’s Life of Science and Art” (January 12, 2022)

2021

• Jeff Babson, Sky Island Tours (November 11, 2022)

• Roxanne Swentzell and Patricia Perea, “The Pueblo Food Experience Cookbook: Whole Foods of our Ancestors” (October 13, 2021)

• Gary Paul Nabhan, “Food from the Radical Center: Healing Our Land and Communities” (September 8, 2021)

• Alberto Rios, “The Good Map of All Things” (July 14, 2021)

• David Owens, “Where the Water Goes” and Craig Childs, “The Secret Knowledge of Water” (June 9, 2021)

• Janya Burn, “Cloak and Jaguar: Following a Cat from Desert to Courtroom” (April 14, 2021)

• Robert C. West, “Sonora: Its Geographical Personality,” Thomas E. Sheridan, “Where the Dove Calls,” Padre Kino documentary, “Favores Celestiales” (March 10, 2021)

• Rita and Francisco Cantu, “The Line Becomes a River” (January 13, 2021)

2020

• Jeffrey Schulze, “Are We Not Foreigners Here? Nationalism in the US-Mexico Borderlands” and film, “Sonora” (November 11, 2020)

• Lawrence Taylor, “Tales from the Desert Borderland” and film, “El Mar La Mar” (October 14, 2020)

• Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie S. Collazo, “The Book of Rosy: A Mother’s Story of Separation at the Border” and film, “Human Flow” (September 9, 2020)

• César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, “Migration to Prison: America’s Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants” (August 12, 2020)

• Film, “Sin Nombre” (July 8, 2020)