Ryka Aoki is a writer, performer, and educator who has been honored by the California State Senate for her "extraordinary commitment to free speech and artistic expression, as well as the visibility and well-being of transgender people." Ryka's Aoki's work appears in the anthologies Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation (Seal Press), and Transfeminist Perspectives (Temple University). Ryka has an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University and is the recipient of a University Award from the Academy of American Poets. Her chapbook, Sometimes Too Hot the Eye of Heaven Shines, won the RADAR's 2010 Eli Coppola Chapbook Contest. Her first full-length volume, Seasonal Velocities, was released in 2012 by Trans-Genre Press.