Eric Gansworth (Sˑha-weñ na-saeˀ), is a member of Eel clan, enrolled Onondaga, born and raised at the Tuscarora Nation. A writer and visual artist, he has published a dozen books, including the novels, Mending Skins (Pen Oakland Award) and Extra Indians (American Book Award, NAISA Book of the Year), the young adult novels, If I Ever Get Out of Here (Honor Award, American Indian Youth Literary Award; One Book, One Philadelphia 2020) and Give Me Some Truth (Whippoorwill Award). He has recorded audiobooks for recent books. His collection of poems and paintings, A Half-Life of Cardio-Pulmonary Function, was selected for the NBCC Good Reads List. His newest book, Apple (Skin to the Core), a memoir-in-verse and images, was longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award. His first play, Re-Creation Story, was selected for the Public Theater’s Second Annual Native Theater Festival.  He is a Professor of English and Lowery Writer-in-Residence at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. As a visual artist, he has had solo exhibitions at the Castellani Museum, Colgate University, Westfield State University, SUNY Oneonta and Bright Hill Center. His work has appeared in the journals The Kenyon Review, POETRY, The Cream City Review, The Boston Review, Provincetown Arts, Shenandoah, Third Coast, and Many Mountains Moving, among other journals and has been widely anthologized. 

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Gansworth’s work also has been supported by the Library of Congress, the National Book Critics Circle, the Saltonstall Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the Arne Nixon Center, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Seaside Institute among other institutions. He was NEH Distinguished Visiting Professor at Colgate University. He has also recently been selected for inclusion in LIT CITY, a public arts project celebrating Buffalo’s Literary Legacy.