Nikki Z Richard is a multifaceted queer artist with immense moods and mystical coping mechanisms. Her debut YA novel, Demon in the Whitelands, was published by Month9Books in September 2019. Her short stories and poems have also been published in literary journals and anthologies including Nasty, Mosaics, FIVE Poetry, and Welter, and has been a recipient of the Adele V. Holden Creative Writing award. Born and raised in Southwest Louisiana, Nikki is a graduate of the MFA program of Creative Writing and Publishing Arts at the University of Baltimore. She is currently a doctoral student of English Literature at Morgan State University, and lives in Baltimore with her daughter, cat, and kingsnake.