Recent National
Press
"Indigenous Authors Rack Up Youth Media Awards" from Indian Country Today
A Kirkus Profile "Writing A Letter to Her Indigenous Heritage"
Publishers Weekly Flying Starts
Find Ari's Events and Features Long List Below Press Kit


Short Bio
Ari Tison (Bribri) is the award-winning poet and the author of YA hybrid poetry & prose novel Saints of the Household (2023) with FSG/Macmillan. Saints of the Household was the winner of the 2024 Walter Dean Myers Award, the winner of the 2024 Pura Belpré Award, the winner of the Amelia Walden Award, the winner of the Américas Award, and a finalist for the William C. Morris Award and the International Literacy Award. Saints was chosen as a Best Book of the Month by Amazon, and Best Book of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, New York Public Library, BCCB, and Chicago Public Library along with receiving starred trade reviews from Kirkus, BCCB, and SLJ. Ari was chosen as a 2023 Publishers Weekly Flying Start.
Ari's work has been widely anthologized. Her poems and short works have been published in a number of national magazines including POETRY's first ever edition for children. Her poem "The Storyteller Gets Her Name" is a part of national K-4th ELA curriculum reaching over 3 million young readers. Her debut picture book When I Was A Little Girl (HarperCollins) and her next YA novel Together We See (FSG) are slated for 2026. Ari teaches at Hamline University's MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.
Ari belongs to the Bribri tribe, one of the eight federally and globally recognized tribes of contemporary Costa Rica. She lives in the Twin Cities, Minnesota with her sons.
Press Kit
Long Bio


imAGes
Ari Tison (Bribri) is the award-winning poet and the author of YA hybrid poetry & prose novel Saints of the Household (2023) with FSG/Macmillan. Saints of the Household was the winner of the 2024 Walter Dean Myers Award, the winner of the 2024 Pura Belpré Award, the winner of the Amelia Walden Award, the winner of the Américas Award, and a finalist for the William C. Morris Award and the International Literacy Award.
Saints of the Household was chosen as a Best Book of the Month by Amazon, and Best Book of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, New York Public Library, BCCB, and Chicago Public Library along with receiving starred trade reviews from Kirkus, BCCB, and SLJ. Ari has been featured on NPR's Weekend Edition and was chosen as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start. Saints of the Household was an NPR Book of the Day and was also selected as a JLG Gold Standard Selection.
Ari's short stories and poetry have been widely anthologized. Her poems and short works have been published in a number of national magazines including POETRY's first ever edition for children. Her poem "The Storyteller Gets Her Name" is a part of national K-4th ELA curriculum reaching over 3 million young readers.
Her short stories have been widely anthologized and included in Our Shadows Have Claws (Algonquin), Relit Anthology (HarperCollins), and Sing Me a Story: Short Stories in Verse (Penguin/Random House)
Her debut picture book When I Was A Little Girl (HarperCollins) and her next YA novel Together We See (FSG) are slated for 2026.
Ari graduated with her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults in 2018 and is now on faculty in Hamline's MFAC program in Saint Paul, MN.
Ari is Ash Creek Fish Clan and belongs to the Bribri tribe of contemporary Costa Rica, a globally and federally recognized tribe. She lives in the Twin Cities of Minnesota with her two sons.
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Book covers




events & features Longlist
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Walter Dean Myers Award Ceremony | DC | 2024
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ALAN CONFERENCE | 2023
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YALSA | Morris Panel| 2023
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ALA | Chicago | 2023
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WORDPLAY | MINNEAPOLIS | 2023
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YALLWEST | CALIFORNIA | 2023
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OPEN BOOK | Minneapolis | 2023
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NPR WEEKEND EDITION | 2023
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KIRKUS REVIEWS | INTERVIEW | 2023
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TUcson Festival of books | ARIZONA | 2023
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TEEN AUTHOR BOOT CAMP | UTAH | 2023
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BUZZFEED'S MOST ANTICIPATED YA Of 2023 | 2023
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miami book fest | 2022
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Panelist at latinx Kidlit book fest | 2022
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panelist at slj's day of dialog | 2022
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Guest Speaker & Reader for Chatham University’s Global Studies and MFA/CWP Programs
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SHORT WORK TOOLBOX | Loft Literary Center
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POETRY CAMP | Society of Young Inklings
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Book review | Margarita engle's "Your heart my sky" in diverse verse
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"WHEN THE UNITED STATED DENIED MY AUNT'S ATTENDANCE TO MY WEDDING" in "We the People" Exhibition at Denler gallery March 19th-April 9th
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April 26th 7:30pm CT — Morningside After Dark Showcase: Gather
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"Costa Rican-American Writers Making A Name for Themselves" in Latino Stories
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"Publishing Stories" panel guest at Hamline University
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Lecturer at Hamline MFAC alumni weekend of "Innovation: What Can Land an Agent, Editor, Book Reviews, etc."
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Podcast Guest on Chasing Creative Podcast: S7 E4: Ari Tison on Lifting Up Underrepresented Voices

