Wendy Rose was born in Oakland, California, of Hopi and Miwok ancestry. She attended Contra Costa College and the University of California at Berkeley and since then has taught Native American Studies at several colleges, including the University of California at Berkeley. She is an anthropologist and has served as the editor of American Indian Quarterly, as well as a poet and an artist. She presently teaches at Fresno City College and sometimes writes under the pseudonym Chiron Khanshendel. “Truganinny” is partly an effort to venture beyond Native American experience and reach out to identity struggles experienced by other outcast groups.