James Thomas Stevens (Aronhió:ta’s [Akwesasne Mohawk]) was born in Niagara Falls, New York in 1966 and grew up between Six Nations Reserve in Ontario (the birthplace of his grandfather), the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation in upstate New York (birthplace of his grandmother), and the Tuscarora Reservation in western New York (where his grandparents settled). He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodies Poetics, and Brown University’s graduate C.W. program. Stevens is the author of eight books of poetry, including, Combing the Snakes from His Hair, Mohawk/Samoa: Transmigrations, A Bridge Dead in the Water, The Mutual Life, Bulle/Chimere, and DisOrient, and he has recently finished a new manuscript, The Golden Book. He is a 2000 Whiting Award recipient and teaches in IAIA’s undergraduate and graduate Creative Writing Programs. He teaches Poetry, Creative nonfiction, Native American literature, and literary world survey courses. He lives in Cañoncito, New Mexico.

Kim Parko creates in the nested and nesting spheres of mother, partner, maker, teacher and learner. Her work reveres permeable states of being and makes space outside of the status/static quo. Whether textual, visual, or ethereal, her creations embrace interconnection and fluidity, intentionally blurring boundaries. Kim is the author of The Grotesque Child (Co-winner 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Press Book Prize) and Cure All (Caketrain Press, 2010). Her poetry and fiction have appeared in jubilat, Denver Quarterly, Diagram, Caketrain, the PoetryNow podcast, Boston Review (2018 annual poetry contest winner) and elsewhere. She holds a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an MFA from the Bennington College Writing Seminars.

Jamie Figueroa (Afro-Taíno) is Boricua by way of Ohio and longtime resident of northern New Mexico. She explores identity, familial relationships, place, and ancestry with her writing. A two-time graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts (BFA and MFA in Creative Writing), she publishes across genres including fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Her writing has appeared in Agni, Catapult, McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, and Emergence Magazine among other journals. Figueroa has guest lectured and taught at UNM, Highlands, SFCC, NMSA, Goddard College’s MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts/Indigenous and Decolonial Arts Practice Concentration and in Sierra Nevada College’s MFA program. In addition, she has fostered long term collaborative relationships with local nonprofits Little Globe, Academy for the Love of Learning, and SFAI. Her teaching and co-creative community work facilitates equitable engagement with underrepresented voices that highlights intergenerational, multi-racial and multi-ethnic, as well as gender and sexuality, diversity. Jamie’s novel, Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer (Catapult) debuted in March 2021 to many “much anticipated” lists, and glowing reviews including in The New York Times which called her novel a “beautifully crafted, poetic book.” Currently, she is a part of the women’s art collective, Mezcla, and at work on a certificate of Applied Mythology and Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She teaches creative nonfiction and fiction workshops in addition to literature classes at IAIA. Figueroa makes her home in Santa Fe/Ogha Po’oge with her partner and their son.