Negma Coy is a Maya Kaqchikel writer, painter, actress, and teacher from Guatemala. She writes in Maya Kaqchikel, Spanish, and in Maya glyphs. She has published the poetry collections: XXXK’ (2015; Chiapas, Mexico), Soy un búho (2016), Lienzos de herencia (2017; El Salvador), A orillas del fuego (2017; Costa Rica), Tz’ula’, Guardianes de los caminos (2019; Madrid, Spain) and Kikotem – Historias, cuentos y poesía kaqchikel (2019; Guatemala). She paints with oils on fabric, wood, and clay. She teaches backstrap-loom weaving and has participated in a number of theatrical productions in her town. She works with several different collectives so that the art of Indigenous Peoples continues to flourish: Arte K’oyi’, Ajtz’ib’, Escritores de Comalapa, Kemonela’, Consejo de tejedoras de Comalapa, Movimiento de Artistas Mayas Ruk’u’x, Arte de Comalapa, Movimiento Nacional de tejedoras en Guatemala, entre otros. She has participated nationally and internationally in numerous art and poetry festivals.
Paul M. Worley is a settler scholar from Charleston, SC, and Professor of Spanish at Appalachian State University, where he serves as Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. Co-written with Rita M. Palacios, his most recent book, Unwriting Maya Literature: Ts’íib as Recorded Knowledge (2019), was given an honorable mention for Best Book in the Humanities by LASA’s Mexico Section. He is also the author of Telling and Being Told: Storytelling and Cultural Control in Contemporary Yucatec Maya Literatures (2013; oral performances recorded as part of this book project are available at tsikbalichmaya.org), and a Fulbright Scholar. Together with Melissa D. Birkhofer, he is co-translator of Miguel Rocha Vivas’s Word Mingas(2021), whose Spanish edition won Cuba’s Casa de las Américas Prize in 2016. He has also translated selected works by Indigenous authors such as Hubert Matiúwàa (Mè’phàà), Celerina Sánchez, Manuel Tzoc (K’iche’), and Ruperta Bautista (Tsotsil).