Kaya Oakes was born in Oakland and raised in the back of a 1971 Volkswagen Van. She teaches writing at UC Berkeley, where she regularly swears in class and writes too many comments on her student's essays in illegible handwriting. According to the fan mail she receives, she is huge in Toronto. She recommends the mac and cheese at Mama Buzz, Sumatra Organic beans at Royal Coffee, and the unfailingly inspirational and good looking company of the Kitchen Sink editorial staff. Her book of poetry, Telegraph, won the Transcontinental Poetry Prize from Pavement Saw Press, and will be published in 2006.