Johanna Ogden (MA, University of British Columbia) is an independent historian and local activist based in Portland. She has published multiple articles in Oregon Historical Quarterly, including “Ghadar, Historical Silences, and Notions of Belonging,” which received the Oregon Historical Society’s Joel Palmer Award, and has spoken extensively across the Pacific Northwest and in India.

Johanna Ogden has spent more than a decade researching — and working to preserve — the stories of people from India who lived in towns along the Columbia River.

Punjabi Rebels of the Columbia River traces the stories of the radical Indian independence organization known as Ghadar and Bhagat Singh Thind’s era-defining US Supreme Court citizenship case.

Usha Alexander, the daughter of Indian immigrants, grew up in Pocatello, Idaho. At 19, she ran away to university, eventually joining the US Peace Corps to teach science in Vanuatu. In the late '90s, she settled in the vibrant San Francisco Bay Area, contributing her talents to Apple. 

Usha now divides her time between Gurgaon, India, where she lives with her partner, and Eugene Oregon, with her mother. A global citizen, she’s lived in four countries, channeling rich experiences into her novels, "The Legend of Virinara" and "Only the Eyes Are Mine," alongside her poignant novelette "Leaving Idaho" and thought-provoking essays on environmental distress and storytelling.