Laurel Nakanishi was born and raised on the island of O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Through her work as a writer and educator, she has lived in Montana, Nicaragua, and Japan. She has been fortunate to receive grants from the Fulbright Foundation, Japan-US Friendship Commission, and Wrolstad Foundation. Her poetry and essays have appeared in national literary magazines and a prize-winning chapbook, Mānoa|Makai. Laurel received her MFA in poetry from the University of Montana and her MFA in creative non-fiction from Florida International University. She lives with her family in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.