A Dogrib (Tlicho) Dene from Fort Smith, NWT, Richard Van Camp is an internationally renowned storyteller and best-selling author. He is the author of the novel, The Lesser Blessed, a collection of short stories, Angel Wing Splash Pattern, and two children's books with Cree artist, George Littlechild. His new baby book: Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns is the official selection of the Books for BC Babies program and is being given to every newborn baby in British Columbia in 2008. His new novel, Blessing Wendy, will be released in the fall of 2009 through Orca Book Publishers. Richard was awarded Storyteller of the Year for both Canada and the US by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers.

Pablita Velarde is from Santa Clara Pueblo. Velarde learned much about the traditional ways from her grandmother, a medicine woman, and her father, a respected story teller. In 1924 she attended St. Catherine's Indian School in Santa Fe and in 1932, the Santa Fe Indian School where she developed her painting skills. She has painted many murals representing the Pueblo way of life. Her art work can be seen in the Museum of New York's Hall of Ethnology, the De Young Museum of Dan Francisco, and many southwestern galleries.

Sharon Helen Venne (Old woman Bear) is Cree but, through marriage, a citizen of the Blood Tribe in Treaty Seven. She has played an active role in the national and international struggles of many Indigenous Peoples, including the Lubicon Cree and Dineh Nation. Sharon has a Masters of Law degree from the University of Alberta, and is presently a doctorial candidate, writing a thesis on treaty rights of Indigenous Peoples and international law.

David Villaseñor was part Otomi Indian and part Mexican and was educated at Cruz Galvez, an Industrial and Graphic Arts School in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. He moved to the United States at age 16 and, for the first time, witnessed a Navajo medicine man create a sand painting. Villaseñor became an expert sand painter, artist, and sculptor and led a successful career lecturing on the explanation and exposition of Indian sandpainting. He had one-man shows in 1951-52 at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Judith Volborth, Mountain Leaf born in 1955, in an Apache/Comanche poet born in New York City.  She studied at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she honed her skills in prose, poetry and particularly, haiku, a Japanese form of impressionistic free verse.  Tribal themes dominate her work, and the trickster figure of Coyote is a frequent subject.  Though traditional motifs are common in her work, so are images of strong, modern Native women and their unique struggles.

Richard Wagamese is an Ojibway from the Wabasseemoong First Nation in northwestern Ontario. After winning a National Newspaper Award for Column Writing, he published two novels in the 1990s: Keeper’n Me and A Quality of Light. His autobiographical book, For Joshua, was published in 2002. Wagamese has also lectured and worked extensively in both radio and television news and documentary. He lives outside Kamloops, British Columbia.

Anna Lee Walters (born 1946) is a Pawnee/Otoe-Missouria author from Oklahoma. She works at the Diné College, where she directs the college press. She lives in Tsaile, Arizona with her husband, Harry Walters, the Director of the Museum at Diné College.  Her first novel, Ghost Singer (1994) is a dual mystery, one mystery being the suicide of researchers at the Smithsonian attributed to ghosts related to Indian artifacts there, the other mystery revolving around the way Indians understand there position in their ancestry and culture. Turning the genre on its head, only the latter mystery is resolved. Her short story collection, The Sun Is Not Merciful, won the Before Columbus Foundation 1985 American Book Award.

1930-1973.  Paul Warcloud was an author, artist and publisher. To help preserve Sioux language and traditions, he wrote and published a Dakota Sioux-English dictionary. His artwork is on permanent exhibition in the Gladys and Edgar Light Collection at Northern State University.

1825-1853.  William Whipple Warren was born in LaPointe, Minnesota in 1825. His mother was Ojibwe and his father was descended from a Mayflower pilgrim. Warren was educated in various mission schools in Minnesota and New York becoming fluent in English. In 1842 he married Matilda Aiken and moved to Crow Wing, Minnesota. Educating himself in the traditional customs and language of the Chippewas, he found work as a government interpreter. His career includes a seat on Minnesota State Legislature, and writer for The Minnesota Democrat. He also wrote about Ojibwe legends and traditions. Warren died at the age of 28 from tuberculosis.