Casandra Lopez

Casandra López is a California Indian (Tongva/Luiseño/Cahuilla) and Chicana writer who has received support from CantoMundo, Bread Loaf, and Tin House.  She’s the author of the poetry collection, Brother Bullet, and has been selected for residencies with the School of Advanced Research, Storyknife, Hedgebrook, and Headlands Center for the Arts. Her memoir-in-progress, A Few Notes on Grief was granted a 2019 James W. Ray Venture Project Award.  She teaches at Northwest Indian College. 

She believes strongly in supporting other writers of color and co-founded the literary journal, As/Us: A Space For Writers of The World. She teaches on the Lummi reservation at Northwest Indian College.

Since witnessing my brother’s murder I’ve been compelled to write about my experience and the cycle of violence that is prevalent in San Bernardino, my hometown. I explore what does it mean when one Indigenous man murders another and if there can be justice. This grant will assist in the completion of my memoir, A Few Notes on Grief, a multi-genre project that includes, essays, poems, along with responses to various historical and government texts such as my brother’s death certificate. I began by writing about my immediate experiences with violence, but through this process, I was prompted to further research historical trauma. These responses will be interspersed throughout the manuscript to provide a thread that links my present experience as an Indigenous woman with the violence of colonialism.