Danielle Emerson

2026 Fellow, Indigenous Nations Poets

Danielle Shandiin Emerson is a Diné writer from Shiprock, New Mexico on the Navajo Nation. Her clans are Tłaashchi’i (Red Cheek People Clan), born for Ta’neezaahníí (Tangled People Clan). Her maternal grandfather is Ashííhí (Salt People Clan) and her paternal grandfather is Táchii’nii (Red Running into the Water People Clan). She has a B.A. in Education Studies and a B.A. in Literary Arts from Brown University. She has received fellowships from GrubStreet, Lambda Literary, The Diné Artisan + Author Capacity Building Institute, Ucross Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Tin House, The Highlight Foundation, and Monson Arts. She has work published from swamp pink, Academy of American Poets, Yellow Medicine Review, Poetry Magazine, Thin Air Magazine, The Chapter House Journal, Poetry Northwest, and others. Her writing centers healing, kinship, language-learning, and Diné narratives. She is a MFA Fiction graduate student at Vanderbilt University.