Meet our 2020 Fellows

We are so excited to introduce you to our two Fellows, Kachina Yeager and Tijqua Daiker, who both joined our team this year. Milkweed Publisher & CEO Daniel Slager, who helped establish our Fellowship program, reflects on these two new team members:

”In these challenging times, we are particularly pleased to welcome these Fellows to our team, and to work alongside them in publishing transformative books, from acquisition to release. I am confident they will enlarge our perspective as a publisher, and it is our great hope that they will contribute to the expansion of our field in the future.”
—DANIEL SLAGER, Publisher & CEO

We launched the Milkweed Fellowship program in 2019. It is grounded in our belief that books have the potential to change the way we see the world, and that equity is essential to a vibrant, diverse, and empowered literary ecosystem. This paid, one- to two-year immersion program is designed to offer the tools, experience, and exposure necessary to pursue a career in book publishing. Intended to provide an alternative route to success in an industry where the prerequisite to an entry level position is typically an unpaid internship, this learning-oriented position seeks to provide entry to those historically underrepresented among workers in book publishing—Indigenous, people of color, LGBTQIA+, and those with disabilities—so they may advance, discover, and champion transformative literature for years to come. For more information about the Fellowship program, learn more here.

ABOUT OUR FELLOWS

Prior to her fellowship, Kachina Yeager graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota where she received a Bachelors of Individualized Studies in Sociology, American Indian Studies, and Global Studies with a focus on Global Indigeneity. Currently, she is a student of Dakota Iapi (language) at the University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing and Professional Education. Kachina is an enrolled member of the Bdewakantantuwan Dakota nation, Tinta Wita (Prairie Island).

Samantha Tijquanna (Tijqua) Daiker is a writer, bookmaker, and slam poet. They preformed at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational in 2016 & 2017 before graduating with honors from Hamline University. Their favorite places to wander unsupervised include office supply stores and the bad romance novel section at Cub Foods.