Amy Shimshon-Santo is a poet and essayist born on Tovaangar land in current day Los Angeles. Her family lives in the U.S., the Middle East, and South America. Amy is the author of poetry collections: Random Experiments in Bioluminescence (2024), Catastrophic Molting (2022), Even the Milky Way is Undocumented (2020), and Endless Bowls of Sky (2020). Her first book of essays is Piecework: Ethnographies of Place (2025). Amy is an Emmy Award nominee and finalist for the NightBoat Poetry Prize. Additional nominations include Pushcart Prizes and a Rainbow Reads Award. Community of Writers and Idyllwild Writing Week have awarded her fellowships. Her work appears in ArtPlace America, Imagining America, GeoHumanities, and more. Amy edited anthologies for UC Press, Illinois Open Publishing Network, LA Public Library, Braille Institute of America Library, Revista de Crítica Cultura (Brazil) and Libretto Magazine (Nigeria). Recently, Amy was a guest artist for UNESCO / Mexico, UNEB / Brazil, Pa Gya Lit Fest / Ghana, Lagos Int'l Poetry Festival / Nigeria, Univ. of Maryland, UC Santa Cruz, Univ. of Colorado Boulder, and designed writing projects for LA County Museum of Art and the Braille Institute of America. Her creative life began in dance where she co-founded the Brasil Brasil Cultural Center. As a professor, she's directed arts programs at UCLA and Claremont Graduate Univ. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing (Antioch Univ.) and PhD in Cultural Planning (UCLA). Intergenerational work, in family and community, has been central to her purpose. Amy has mentored generations of creatives and arts activists, and mothered two phenomenal beings Avila Santo and Reva Santo.