Diane Glancy was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to an English-German mother and to a father who was part Cherokee. She currently teaches Native American Literature and Creative Writing at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Winner of many grants and writing awards, Glancy has published several volumes of poetry, stories, and essays, including Offering: Poetry and Prose (1988); Iron Woman (1990); and Claiming Breath (1992). Glancy says, "I keep thinking why bother with Native American heritage. What does it matter? Let it go." But then she says that she hears "old footsteps of the ancestors in the leaves of autumn" and is reminded of a "heritage I feel every day."