LIT 36, Spring 2024

Tony Wallin-Sato is a Japanese American who works with formerly/currently incarcerated individuals in higher education as the Program Director for Project Rebound at Cal Poly Humboldt and is a lecturer in the critical race gender and sexuality studies department at Cal Poly Humboldt. He holds an MFA in Poetry and is the Co-Chair for the Boundless Freedom Project and an Advisory Board Member for the American Prison Newspaper Project. His first chapbook of poems, Hyouhakusha: Desolate Travels of a Junkie on the Road, was published in 2021 through Cold River Press. His first book of poems, Bamboo on the Tracks: Sakura Snow and Colt Peacemaker, was selected by John Yau for the 2022 Robert Creeley Memorial Award and is forthcoming through Finishing Line Press June 2024. His second book of poems, Okaerinasai, is forthcoming from Wet Cement Press October 2024. His work is featured in or forthcoming in the 2024 Asian American and Pacific Islander Anthology, We Gathered Heat, from Haymarket Books; Cultural Daily; The Asian American Writers Workshop: The Margins;  Neon Door; Another Chicago Magazine; LIT magazine; and New Delta Review. Wallin-Sato's work comes out of the periphery and supports the uplifting of voices usually spoken in the shadows. All he wants is to see his community's thoughts, ideas and emotions freely shared and expressed.