Wiley Barnes, a Chickasaw citizen, holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Oklahoma State University, and has spent twenty-one years forging a career in the publishing industry, and the last fourteen years with the Chickasaw Nation. Barnes is the author of the non-fiction children's book, C is for Chickasaw, which received a Gold Benjamin Franklin for Best New Voice: Children's/Young Adult, a Bronze Moonbeam for Multicultural Nonfiction Picture Book, was an Oklahoma Book Award Finalist, and was adapted into an app in 2017, followed by a coloring book in 2018. Funny Fani' is Barnes's second children's title. He lives in Ada, Oklahoma, with his wife and two children. Lokosh (Joshua D. Hinson) is a Chickasaw citizen, also of Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, and Euro-American descent. A conversational speaker of the Chickasaw language, he is the director of the Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program and an award-winning artist. He holds a bachelor's degree in painting from Abilene Christian University, a master's degree in Native American art history from the University of New Mexico, and a doctorate in Native language revitalization from the University of Oklahoma. He creates art within the Chickasaw Nation, located in Ada, Oklahoma.
