Washuta is a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and a nonfiction writer. Her essay collection, White Magic, was selected as a finalist for the PEN/Open Book Award, longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Award, and named among the best books of 2021 by TIME, the New York Public Library and National Public Radio. She is the author of Starvation Mode and My Body is a Book of Rules, and with Theresa Warburton, is the co-editor of the anthology Shapes of Native Nonfiction: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers. She holds a BA in English from the University of Maryland and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington.