Luci Tapahonso is a professor emerita of English Literature (UNM) and the inaugural Diné Nation Poet Laureate. She authored six award-winning books, including A Radiant Curve, Blue Horses Rush In, and three children’s books. She also taught at the University of Kansas and the University of Arizona. 

Her recent recognitions reflect her ongoing contributions to literature and include a Story Knife Residency, a Helene Wurlitzer Residency, the Distinguished Literary Achievement Award from the Western Literature Association, the Ostana Italy International Literary Prize, keynote addresses at the Taos Writers Conference and Navajo Technical University, and a Bosque Redondo Artist Fellowship. 

In addition to these achievements, she has presented at Princeton and Harvard, as well as at the Tbilisi International Literature Festival and the University of New Zealand’s campuses in Auckland and Wellington.