Natalie Diaz (born September 4, 1978)[2] is a Pulitzer Prize-winning[3] Mojave American poet,[4] language activist, former professional basketball player, and educator.

She attended Old Dominion University, where she played point guard on the women's basketball team, reaching the NCAA Final Four as a freshman and the bracket of sixteen her other three years.

[7] After playing professional basketball in Europe and Asia, she returned to Old Dominion University, and completed an MFA in poetry and fiction,[8] in 2006.

Diaz's debut book of poetry, When My Brother Was an Aztec, "portrays experiences rooted in Native American life with personal and mythic power.

[22] Diaz currently lives in Mohave Valley, Arizona, where she used to work on language revitalization at Fort Mojave, her home reservation.