Zitkala-Ša (1876–1938) was a Yankton Dakota writer, educator, and activist who challenged U.S. policies of Native American assimilation. Through essays, fiction, and speeches —including American Indian Stories- she exposed the harms of boarding schools and cultural erasure. Zitkala-Sa also worked for Native rights, citizenship, and self-determination, becoming a powerful Indigenous voice in early twentieth-century America. 

Kim Shuck has lived long enough that her stubbornly dark brown hair is finally going grey and she is delighted by that. Shuck served as the 7th Poet Laureate of San Francisco. Part of her term was during the covid pandemic shutdown. Kim is solo author of eleven books and chapbooks. Most of those are poetry collections. Shuck has also edited, co-edited or been edit-curious for, roughly, the same number of books and anthologies. By the end of 2026 she'll have one more chapbook, one more full-length collection, and will have been the very least important editor of a posthumous memoir. Shuck's most recent collection is Pick a Garnet to Sleep In.