Byron has found himself inside the world of nonfiction, poetry, and essays which are shaped by stories of the southwest desert. Through exploration, Byron has learned to re/navigate himself inside the foreign landscapes of literature with a voice instituted by curiosity and memory to become the artist he is known to be. Born of two waters, Byron uses the familial to revisit, reencounter, and reconnect by allowing others to see/feel/listen through craft/language/rumination. As a teacher, Byron revisits the past in order to un-learn/relearn/re-teach and guide students to rethink and reimagine how tomorrow begins with today.
Long Bio
Byron F. Aspaas is Diné. He is Táchii’nii, born for Tódich’iinii. raised within the four sacred mountains of Dinétah, Byron received his BFA and MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in creative writing. Byron’s writing reflects upon the eradication of Navajoland, which draws readers into discourse about preservation with Diné culture and land.
Byron’s first published work was included in Yellow Medicine Review and continues to appear in numerous journals and anthologies as a poet, an essayist, and fiction noir. Each of his writing can be found in Weber: The Contemporary West, Denver Quarterly, International Writing Program Collections, The Rumpus, Santa Fe Noir, Shapes of Native Nonfiction and The Diné Reader.
Byron is working on a compilation of essays and a collection of poems; his work reflects upon his upbringing through identity, the exploration of the written tongue, and the mis/understandings inside the Glittering World with language, landscape and persona.
Byron will begin as lecturer at Colorado State University – Pueblo (Fall ‘25) and will continue as poetry mentor for Western Colorado University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. He is a board member of Writing by Writers, poetry editor for terrain.org, and is the poetry master as well as part of the advisory committee for The Identity Project.
Byron lives with his partner, six dogs, and four cats in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Short Bio
Byron F. Aspaas is Diné. He is Táchii’nii, born for Tódich’iinii, and raised within the four sacred mountains of Dinétah, Byron received his BFA and MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in creative writing. His writing reflects upon the eradication of Navajoland, which draws readers into discourse about preservation with Diné culture and land. His writing can be found in Weber: The Contemporary West, Denver Quarterly, International Writing Program Collections, The Rumpus, Santa Fe Noir, Shapes of Native Nonfiction and The Diné Reader. Byron will begin as lecturer with Colorado State University – Pueblo (Fall ‘25) and will continue as poetry mentor for Western Colorado University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. He lives with his partner, six dogs, and four cats in Colorado Springs, Colorado.