Neema Avashia is the daughter of Indian immigrants, and was born and raised in southern West Virginia. Her first book, Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place, was published by West Virginia University Press in 2022. It was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, the New England Book Award, and the Weatherford Award, and was a named best LGBTQ Memoir of 2022 by Book Riot, as well as a New York Public Library Best Book of 2022. She has been an educator and activist in the Boston Public Schools since 2003.