Richard “Lotni” Elm-Hill comes from a family of poets, artists, philosophers, community leaders, and nation builders. His Onyota’a:ka name, Lo’nikuhliyo’stu translates as “He has a peaceful mind” and has become the moniker “Lotni the Poet.” As a Haudenosaunee poet, Lotni is a student of traditional knowledge, cultural myth and collective imagination.

Born into the Bear clan at his Grandmother’s house on the Oneida Indian Reservation in Wisconsin, Lotni grew up in Oneida community. He also migrated to the Pacific Northwest and was shaped by the ocean, mountains, rivers and giant cedar trees.

Lotni is the author of Bellingham: The City of Some Dude’s Excitement. He won an Oneida Fellowship Award in 2019 from the Oneida Nation Arts Program and the Wisconsin Arts Board. For nearly a decade, he studied poetry and story at the Great Mother and New Father Conference. Lotni earned a Master of Science in Applied Leadership for Teaching & Learning from the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay.

He lives in Oneida, Wisconsin, with his family and supports projects at Three Track Mind and First Nations Development Institute.