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Samantha Chagollan (she/her)

@samchagollan

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📚 Writer / Creative Gal @purpleinkcreative
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Savoring the afterglow of one of the most meaningful nights of my little ol’ life—a milestone made possible by the feast of love and encouragement and celebration of my chosen ones. It’s one thing to write words. It’s another to unleash them.

Dad, I write for us. 🤍

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Oh, what a night! Thank you to Third Place Books, to my dear friends, family, students, helpers, and audience, to my fellow beautiful readers and contributors, to old grade school friends and beloved community: last night was amazing and I thank every one of you for showing up and celebrating with me. I couldn’t have hoped for a better night. I will never forget it and I’m so grateful you all were there, listening, witnessing, and making magic together. We sold out of copies, and launched Mixed Roots into the world! So much more to come, and already it’s enough. Thank you. 🙏🏼🙏🏽🙏🏾

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Samantha Chagollan (@samchagollan) is a Southern California writer and artist whose creative nonfiction explores memory, home, belonging and her mixed Mexican-American heritage. A returning Vashon Artist Residency alum, Samantha is continuing work on her memoir, Homesick, which considers how family histories, cultural inheritance and the places we call home shape the people we become.

Her microessays, poems and other creative work have appeared in Yellow Arrow Journal, Latin@Literatures, and Months to Years, as well as the award-winning anthologies The COVID Monologues and Nonwhite and Woman. Her essay “Learning a Second Language” appears in Mixed Roots, a new anthology from Beacon Press.

Samantha is also an accomplished author of fiction and nonfiction for children and teens, including Starry Skies: Learn About the Constellations Above Us. She brings extensive experience in publishing and editing to her writing practice. She earned a BA in English Literature from Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, California.

We’re delighted to welcome Samantha back to Vashon Artist Residency!
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#vashonartistresidency #vashon #writerofinstagram #artistresidencies #socowriters

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Two weeks from today, Seattle-area people, please join me along with five contributors to MIXED ROOTS at our launch celebration at Third Place Books Lake Forest Park.
Thursday, 10.15, 7 pm. Readings and cake. We would love to see you!

Anne Liu Kellor (editor), along with Dawn Noel Chen, Elisabeth Vasquez Hein, Leticia Lopez, Samantha Chagollan, and Alayna Erhart will read excerpts from our essays and celebrate our beloved extended writing community that led to the inception of MIXED ROOTS.

RSVPs appreciated - link to register and pre-order from Third Place in my bio and on my website. Both/And community - see you there?

(And if you can't make it, come to the online launch on 10.18!)

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Thrilled to share the cover for MIXED ROOTS: Writers on Multiracial Identity & Both/And Belonging, forthcoming from Beacon Press on 10.13.26!

This book has been years in the making, inspired by the amazing conversations coming out of my Both/And workshops for mixed-race people. (Over half of the contributors are former students; the other pieces were solicited from writers/thinkers I also deeply admire.)

Later this spring we'll start the pre-order campaign in earnest, partnering with a local bookstore, but for now you can pre-order the book via our Penguin Randomhouse distributor link in my bio.

So much more to share about this project in the months to come - and stay tuned for the next iteration of my Both/And writing workshop this summer!

For now, here is the book's online description:

Mixed people carry lifelong embodied knowledge about existing in non-binary, intersectional worlds. Mixed Roots presents 29 personal essays that complicate the narrative around race and identity—dispelling narrow ideas that there is ever one “right” or singular way for folks to identify.

Born out of a community of writers formed through editor Anne Liu Kellor’s annual writing workshop, Mixed Roots is filled with pieces infused with a deep examination of privilege, microaggressions, whiteness, ancestral trauma, internalized racism, and paradoxical truths—going beyond common tropes found in many mixed-race narratives. Highlighting various Asian, Black, Native, Latine, Arab, and White mixed voices from writers ranging from their 20s to 70s, Mixed Roots invites more multiracial and mixed roots people in to actively contribute to the dialogue around race, whether or not they publicly identify as “mixed.”

A powerful collection of personal truths and cultural insight, Mixed Roots reveals how community and narrative can be useful tools to see how alike we are, at the same time that we are not afraid to name our differences. We all carry in our bodies the historical legacies, confusion, trauma, and harm caused by racialized experiences—Mixed Roots says we are multilayered, not easily defined or contained by one story, and as such, can speak to us all.

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MIXED ROOTS : forthcoming 10.13.26 with Beacon Press. Things have been so upside down time busy that I’ve not yet shared that the anthology my contributors and I have been waiting on for years has been officially “delivered and accepted” - AND it’s gone through a name change! Formerly Both/And is now MIXED ROOTS: Writers on Multiracial Identity and Both/And Belonging (because an anthology called Both/And was just released a few months ago, of trans and nonbinary writers of color). Not wanting our book to get lost in the search engines, we pivoted to MIXED ROOTS, which I also love, and kept Both/And in the subtitle since it’s so central to the book’s inclusive nonbinary core. I am this AND I am this. One does not cancel out the other, but adds layers of complexity, nuance, and openings for questions, reckonings, and conversation.

Now I wait for copyedits, cover design, and blurb requests (going out soon from me). Come spring, the preorder and marketing machine will kick into high gear. But for now, I’m just waiting and getting excited to pay my beautiful contributors- so many of whom are my former students and extended community, connections that have been gifted to me or that I’ve sought out, radiating tendrils of mycelial connection. Our roots and stories are connected through time, karma, and history.

I dedicated this book “for our ancestors.” We, our, ours. I love first person plural. It helps us find our areas of overlap and resonance. It honors connection, above all else, even as it is not afraid to name differences and divides.

Who are we? We are Both/And. We are Mixed Roots. We are your family members, your friends, your children, neighbors, students, teachers, partners, selves. We are America - and all of the people who became America. We are multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual, multi-perspectived. We are not better than you nor inferior to you. We are connected to everyone, the audience for this book is everyone, and more of our stories need to be heard.

#mixedroots #mixedrace #multiracial #anthology

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I’m finally coming down a bit from the high of launching Mele into the world. Mahalo nui loa to all of you who came out to support me, especially @antmenismagic, @elochridge, @fuzzybrowngirl, @samchagollan, and of course, @dougkimster. 💖🌸🌺 I am grateful to old friends and new readers, places that build community like @island.books, @cakesofparadisebakery1, and @islandtreatsnw, and artists who draw you the perfect mango like @itscathywu 🥭. Thanks also to @triohousepress for giving my book a home from which my poems can sing from every open window.
My heart is so very, very full. 💖🥭💖🍠💖🫜💖

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There’s something so invigorating and inspiring about seeing our alumni thrive. Our alum, Kalehua Kim (@kalehuakim) just launched her first book of poetry entitled, Mele and published by Trio House Press(@triohousepress). She worked on Mele during her time at Vashon Artist Residency. Fellow alum, friend and colleague, Samantha Chagollan (@samchagollan) was by her side at her launch, to read and cheer her on.

We are proud to witness the ways artists carry their work into the world, far beyond our little island.

Hoʻomaikaʻi Kale!

Images of Kalehua Kim and Samantha Chagollan at Island Books on Mercer Island - by @cathysarkowsky
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#VashonArtistResidency #vashonartistresidencyalumni #AlumniSpotlight #CreativeCommunity #artistresidency #artistresidencies #vashon #vashonisland #mele

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Come celebrate the launch of my first poetry collection, Mele, on Saturday at 6:30 pm at @island.books 📚💗

I’ll be reading with @samchagollan, @elochridge, @antmenismagic, and @fuzzybrowngirl.

There will be food, fun, and prizes! 🤩

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It’s starting to feel real, my friends…in just about three weeks I will be launching my book, Mele!! 🌸

At 6:30 pm on Saturday, June 28, join me and the gorgeous and talented writers @antmenismagic, @fuzzybrowngirl, @elochridge, and @samchagollan at @island.books for an evening of heartfelt words connected by beautiful friendships. There will likely be snacks and maybe a few prizes. RSVP at the link in my bio.🥭
I can’t wait to see you there!
🙏🏽 @triohousepress

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So many friends to connect with at #AWP, it’s hard to contain my excitement when we’re together. This year was a wholly new experience for me at the convention, as I began the launch of my first collection of poetry, Mele. 🩷

I’m so grateful to these people of my heart - and many new friends - who make this next adventure so memorable for me!! 🐳❤️

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