Crisosto Apache

Crisosto Apache is an Indigenous (Mescalero Apache, Chiricahua Apache, and Diné) poet born on August 7, 1971. Apache earned a BA from Metro State University of Denver and a MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). 

The author of is(ness) (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 2026); Ghostword (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 2022), winner of the Publishing Triangle’s 2023 Betty Berzon Emerging Writers Award and a finalist for the 2023 Colorado Authors League Award in poetry; and Genesis (Lost Alphabet, 2018), Apache is the recipient of the Montalvo Center’s Lucas Artist Fellowship and a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. 

Apache works as an associate professor of English and creative writing at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and serves on the board for The Offing magazine. Apache lives in Lakewood, Colorado, on Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and Ute land, and is the eleventh poet laureate of Colorado.