K. Ka`imilani Leota Sellers was born in Kahuku, Hawaii. Though she has lived and traveled throughout the United States, and New Zealand, she has always returned to Hawaii. She graduated from the University of Hawaii at Hilo with a BA in English Literature and a Certificate in Teaching Secondary Education. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Eastern Kentucky University. She has taught Language Arts and Creative Writing for 12 years. K. Ka`imilani is a queer woman of both Samoan and Caucasian descent, involved with the LGBTQ Writers Caucus AWP. She is a Finalist in Center for Womenʻs Writers CNF Penelope Niven Award, 2019, received a CNF Emerging Writer Award from Bluegrass Writers Studio, and a CNF Honorable Mention by Cutthroat 26 in 2020. She is Published in Yellow Medicine Review, Hawaii Review, Napantla An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, The Chaffin Journal, and Cutthroat 26.

Website: http://www.hinarising.com/

Twitter Username: @KKaimilaniLS

Publications

• A Moment to Breathe , Cutthroat 26 (January 2020)
• She and I: Making Landfall , the Chaffin Journal (2020)
• Country of Patriots , Hawaii Review (2020)
• 14.0250° S/171.4265° W , Hawaii Review (2020)
• When Lillian Posts Pictures of Food on Facebook, She Makes Me Hungry , Napantla An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, Ed. Christopher Soto. New York, Nightboat Books (2018)
• Fallout's Horizon , Yellow Medicine Review: 10th Anniversary Retrospective, Spring 2017, Ann Arbor, McNaughton & Gunn. (2017)
• For Hina , Yellow Medicine Review, Ed. Ahimsa Timoteo, Ann Arbor, McNaughton & Gunn. Fall 2010 (2010)
• Fallout's Horizon , Yellow Medicine Review, Ann Arbor, McNaughton & Gunn. (2009)
• Ka`u Weeping: Land and Water , Yellow Medicine Review, Ann Arbor, McNaughton & Gunn. (2007)

Awards

• Emerging Writer EKU Bluegrass Writers Studio(2020)
• CNF Finalist, Center for Women's Writing, Penelope Niven Award for Creative Nonfiction, 2019.(2019)
• Barry Lopez Honorable Mention(2020)

Employment

• Teacher at School for Creative and Performing Arts (July 2015 - July 2020)

Degrees

• Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from University of Hawaii at Hilo (December 2005)
• Certificate in Secondary Education from University of Hawaii at Hilo (May 2008)
• Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Eastern Kentucky University (July 2020)

Genres of Interest

Fiction, Creative nonfiction, Playwriting, Screenwriting, Children's literature , Poetry