DEBORAH JACKSON TAFFA is a citizen of the Kwatsaan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo. She earned her MFA degree at the Iowa Writers Workshop and is the director of the MFA program in creative writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Boston Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, A Public Space, Salon, Huffington Post, Prairie Schooner, The Best Travel Writing, and other outlets. Her memoir, Whiskey Tender (Harper), has been longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award in nonfiction, as well as named to several 2024 best lists at outlets such as Esquire, Oprah Daily, Elle, and The Washington Post.