Laura Tohe is Diné (Navajo). She was born in Fort Defiance, AZ and is Tsénáhábilnii (Sleepy Water People clan) and born for the Tódich'inii (Bitter Water clan). She grew up near the Chuska Mountains on the eastern border of the Navajo Reservation and attended both boarding schools and public schools in Albuquerque.
Dr. Tohe is currently Associate Professor of English at Arizona State University. A poet and scholar, Tohe's work has been published in the journals Ploughshares, New Letters, Calyx and others. Her chapbook of poetry, Making Friends with Water, has been translated into modern dance and music by The Moving Company in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1999 Dr. Tohe's book of poetry, No Parole Today was awarded Poetry Book of the Year by the Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers. She co-edited Sister Nations: Native American Women Writers on Community. Her new book, Tséyi', Deep in the Rock, a book of poetry and photography by Stephen Strom, was listed as a 2005 Southwest Book of the Year.
Laura holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of New Mexico and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska where she received both a Regent Fellowship and Minority Fellowships to support her studies. She is now an Associate Professor in the English Dept. at Arizona State University.