Chris Stark
Chris Stark is a Native (Anishinaabe & Cherokee) award-winning writer, researcher, visual artist, and national and international speaker. Her first novel, Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation, was a Lambda Literary Finalist. Her essays, poems, academic writing, and creative non-fiction have appeared in numerous publications, including The Palgrave International Handbook on Trafficking, University of Pennsylvania Law Review; Dignity Journal; The WIP; Florida Review; and many others. Her poem, “Momma’s Song,” was recorded by Fred Ho and the Afro Asian Music Ensemble as a double manga CD. She is also a co-editor of Not for Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography; and a co-author of “Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota.” Primary research she conducted with Native women survivors of prostitution and trafficking on the ships in Duluth, Minnesota is included in her article “Strategies to Restore Justice for Sex Trafficked Native Women.” She has spoken at law schools, conferences, rallies, and at the United Nations. She has taught writing and humanity courses at universities and community colleges for 20 years and worked as a Two-Spirit program director at Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center. Currently, she consults with local and national organizations, and teaches writing and literature at Anoka Ramsey Community College. She is a member of the Minnesota Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Taskforce. Her second novel, Carnival Lights, was published in 2021, and won a Northeastern Minnesota Book Award in 2022. For more information: www.christinestark.com