Deborah Jackson Taffa’s memoir, WHISKEY TENDER, has received advanced praise from the following outlets: ELLE Mag, “The Best (and Most Anticipated) Nonfiction Books in 2024,” “The NY Times, “17 New Books Coming in February,” Zibby Mag “Most Anticipated Book of 2024,” San Fran Chronicle, “New Book to Cozy Up with,” Publisher’s Weekly, “Memoirs and Biographies: Top Ten 2024,” The Millions, “Most Anticipated,” and Electric Lit, “Books by Women of Color to Read.” With fellowships and grants from the NEA for the Arts in Prose, the University of Iowa, PEN America, MacDowell, Hedgebrook, Rona Jaffe, Tin House, A Public Space, the Ellen Meloy Fund, the Kranzberg Arts Foundaion, and the NY State Summer Writer’s Institute, Taffa is the director of the MFA CW at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM.

A citizen of the Quechan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo, Deborah earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Prior to her job at IAIA, she taught Creative Nonfiction at Webster University and Washington University in Saint Louis. She also served as an Executive Board Member with the Missouri Humanities Council where she was instrumental in creating a Native American Heritage Program in the state. 

She serves as the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine, River Styx. Her writing can be found at The Rumpus, Boston Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, A Public Space, Salon, Huff Post, Prairie Schooner, The Best Travel Writing, The Best of Brevity: Twenty Groundbreaking Years of Flash Nonfiction, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and elsewhere. Her play, “Parents Weekend,” was performed at the Autry Theater’s 8th Annual Short Play Festival in Los Angeles in 2018.

In recent years, Deborah has had the incredible honor of reading a series of poetic interludes for composer Gary Gackstatter’s Chaco Symphony featuring the Grammy nominated flautist, R. Carlos Nakai. She will be performing with the symphony in Durango, Colorado, on March 15, 2024.

She can be found on various social media sites as @deborahtaffa.