If you've been paying attention to our social media, you may have seen our announcement that Lehua M. Taitano will be our summer resident for 2019. We're thrilled to welcome Lehua, who was the winner of our annual Summer Residency Contest, judged this year by Vickie Vértiz. In case you missed it, here's a little bit about Lehua and a video she was kind enough to share featuring some of her work:

Taitano is a queer CHamoru writer and interdisciplinary artist from Yigo, Guåhan (Guam) and co-founder of Art 25. She is the author of two volumes of poetry—Inside Me an Island (WordTech Editions) and A Bell Made of Stones (TinFish Press). Her chapbook, appalachiapacific, won the 2010 Merriam-Frontier Award for short fiction. She has two recent chapbooks of poetry and visual art: Sonoma (Dropleaf Press) and Capacity (a Hawai’i Review e-chap).

Her poetry, essays, and Pushcart Prize-nominated fiction have appeared in Fence, Kartika Review, Red Ink International Journal, Poetry Magazine, and numerous others. She has served as an APAture Featured Literary Artist via Kearny Street Workshop, a Kuwentuhan poet via The Poetry Center at SFSU, and as a Culture Lab visual artist and digital exhibit advisor for the Smithsonian Institute’s Asian Pacific American Center. Taitano’s work investigates modern indigeneity, decolonization, and cultural identity in the context of diaspora.