Camaray Davalos

Camaray Davalos (Payómkawichum/Xicana) graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt in 2018, majoring in Native American Studies and minoring in Environmental Management. In 2021 she wrote and filmed her first short, Woman Who Blooms at Night. She was selected as a fellow for the Inaugural Native American Writers Seminar in 2021, presented by Native American Media Alliance and the Cherokee Film Office. She was a lead editor and writer for Yáamay: An Anthology of Feminine Perspectives Across Indigenous California, which was published in the Fall of 2023. She is thrilled to continue connecting with communities through her writing.

In her own words:

I've always used my writing as a way to understand myself. As I've written more, it's been a way to explore not only the way I move about the world, but the ways others move and interact as well, including our nonhuman relatives. Using creative non-fiction as well as fiction, I aim to engage readers by covering Indigenous social and environmental issues, as well as the complexities of gender roles and identity. More specifically, themes of Indigeneity, the underdog, and the toxicity of patriarchy are explored in much of my work. However, the otherworldly, and the things we cannot always see, figure heavily in my more recent works. No matter how disparate or frightening, these things still seem to resonate with our daily lives, especially for Indigenous people. It’s a reminder that this kind of storytelling, though sometimes strange and terrifying, is necessary. I like to believe anything I write is necessary, as writing necessitates my being. To quote the late Luke Madrigal, "Storytelling is who we are."

IVDM is excited to have 2 poems by Davalos as part of Native Voices | Native Truths: A Contemporary Experience.

You can find Davalos on Instagram @Piwiishology and find copies of Yáamay: An Anthology of Feminine Perspectives Across Indigenous California in the IVDM giftshop.