Deborah Taffa

2022 Alumna

Cottage: Waterfall

BIO: Deborah Jackson Taffa (Kwatsaan/Laguna Pueblo) is the director of the MFA CW Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM. Her memoir, Whiskey Tender, was a 2024 National Book Award finalist, a 2025 Carnegie Medal longlisted title, and a top book of 2024 via The Atlantic, Time, NPR, Esquire, Elle, Publishers Weekly, Audible and other outlets. A 2024 NEA Fellow, and a 2022 winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Grant, Deborah has received fellowships from the University of Iowa, MacDowell, the NY State Summer Writers Institute, and other places. Her writing reflects both her roots and her wings.