Ofelia Zepeda was born and raised in Stanfield, Arizona, which is near the Tohono O'odham and Pima reservations. Zepeda received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. She is a professor of linguistics and former director of the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona. Zepeda is considered the foremost authority in Tohono O'odham language and literature. She has actively helped her tribe to improve literacy in their native language and English. She also directs the American Indian Language Development Institute, an annual summer institute for American Indian Teachers.

Louise Abeita's work brings about interesting insights into the Pueblo traditions. Her book I Am a Pueblo Indian Girl, has beautiful illustrations which show the Pueblo culture. She says the book was part of an effort to unite the traditional words and implied ideas with illustrations to make Pueblo life understood especially by the English-speaking public. The book was printed when she was thirteen years old.

Barbara Adams (cousin of AIM leader Russell Means), writes about Sioux legends, cultural history and traditions.  She is Makaha, the same sub-group of the Oglala Sioux as Black Elk, from whom she is descended.  She is the author or Prayers of Smoke: Renewing Makaha Tribal Tradition, written in 1990.

Dr. Howard Adams received a B.A., B.Ed. from the University of Saskatchewan, and a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. He is a Professor Emeritus from the University of California, Davis, and serves as adjunct faculty for the University of Alberta, Edmonton Graduate Program in First Nations Education.

Adams, a historian and legal representative for the Delaware Indians before his death in 1921, attempted to preserve the culture and traditions of his people through the written word and photography.

Freda Ahenakew is a Cree scholar who has worked to preserve the vanishing oral history of the Cree. Recently retired from a professorship at the University of Manitoba, she is known for her translations and editing of the stories of Cree elders. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Saskatchewan in 1997 and was the Order of Canada award recipient, 1999.

Since 1992, Z. S. Aikman, is both the author of A Primer: The Art of Native American Beadwork and an award winning producer.  She is founder, host and producer of alter*Native Voices which is a public radio show featuring Native American news, interviews, narratives and traditional and contemporary Native music.

Richard Aitson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma, in 1953. Aitson's poetry is characterised by an Indian style of surrealism which combines the dream vision with animism to produce strikingly powerful imagery. He draws his material from Kiowa folklore and tradition.

Donna L. Akers, a 2005 Oklahoma Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction Living in the Land of Death The Choctaw Nation, 1830–1860,  is Assistant Professor of History at Purdue University and a tribal member of the Choctaw Nation. 

My name is Watie Akins and I am a 76 year old Penobscot Elder.  I have pproduced two audio CD's called "For the Grandchildren" and "All My Relations" as educational/cultural tools consisting of traditional Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and Abenaki songs using the hand drum and rattle.  I researched our traditional music for over 10 years to recover lost cultural songs.  Each CD includes the words and a description of the origin of the song and where I recovered it from (example:  Speck audio recording made at Indian Island, ME from 1930's). Each of the CD's was produced through a grant from NEFA and/or the Maine Arts Commission.  I am currently working on a music book encompassing the songs from both CD's as an additional teaching tool, which should be complete this year.