Santana Shorty (Navajo) ’24

Santana Shorty (Navajo) ’24 reflects that the genesis of her first novel, Waiting for Water, began as a love letter to her home in Abiquiú, New Mexico.  

“It was still Covid, in 2021, and we were still mostly in lockdown,” she says. “I felt isolated, and this first chapter started with that intent. At the time, I was living in Albuquerque and hadn’t seen my family. It felt like pulling a thread connected to something bigger. It took about 1,000 words to realize it was going to be a novel.”  

Shorty says it took her two years to write her first draft. The majority of the work was done in the MFA in Creative Writing (MFACW) program at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). Some of the book was written in Lamy, New Mexico, where Shorty worked as a recipient of the Leopold Writing Residency on a horse sanctuary ranch. 

“I wanted to finish the novel, but I needed structure,” Shorty explains. “The program is heavy on generation. I had 10,000 words when I started the program and afterward, I had 89,000 words. I credit the program for helping me get there.” 

Shorty says the novel is “speculative fiction meets historical fiction” and deals with a family in Northern New Mexico whose mother goes missing, with a heavy emphasis on the supernatural. 

The novel took form, in part because of the structure of the MFACW program, the writer says.  

“It’s a low residency program. You come in the summer, and you get paired with a mentor with whom you work for the rest of the semester. You’re working on one major project, sending packets of twenty pages to your professor. I generated a lot of writing. You also get individualized feedback from your mentor, and from your peers too, which kept me going through the challenges.” 

Describing her typical day in the program, Shorty notes, “In the afternoons, you go into your workshops. In the evenings there are readings after a dinner break. Between that and socializing with like-minded, diverse people, it’s very long days.” 

Staying at an Airbnb with fellow students and working the program, “completely changed my life,” Shorty says. “I view that creative program as the major component of change in my life where I met my people, found my community, these wonderful, inspiring, thought-provoking artists.” 

The fact that IAIA is a Tribal College also influenced Shorty’s work and experience.  

“It influenced how fully I can engage in the writing process,” she says. “When you are an Indigenous person who goes to an Indigenous institution, you don’t have to explain yourself. There are no questions. It helps you focus on the art form. It taught me a different way to look at being a writer who is Indigenous. Sometimes I can choose to explain myself, and sometimes I don’t. It gave me an inner grounding and a compass on how to navigate those moments.”  

Shorty is now readying the novel to share with potential agents, a process she says was also nurtured at IAIA. “They cover the business side,” she explains. “They put together a panel of agents and editors who talk to us about the business side and give us feedback. Sometimes that can turn into something. One of those editors liked my work, and we’ve been in touch ever since and she’s helped me get in touch with agents. The program does a good job of supporting us holistically.” 

Finally, Shorty says one of the major outcomes of her time at IAIA is simply seeing herself as a writer. “Five years ago, I would have said, ‘I’m not a writer.’ But now I am so certain of this being my identity. I also teach now like my Mom (Shorty is Creative Writing and Literature Chair, New Mexico School for the Arts). I’ve given it more love and space. I am an artist. This is my passion and my life mission.”  

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