Arun Narayan Toke', the founder and executive editor of Skipping Stones magazine.

Arun, born and raised in India, came to the United States to work on his graduate studies in engineering. He attended UWM, Notre Dame and UVM and has worked as a design engineer in South Carolina and taught at a state college in Vermont before founding the multicultural magazine in Oregon. He has published two books, including a co-authored text-book: Energy, Economics and the Environment. His articles have appeared in several newspapers and magazines.

As the editor of Skipping Stones for the last two decades, Arun has attended numerous conferences and spoken at various venues. He has been honored with the EDPRESS, NAME and the WRITER Awards. He is active in the local interfaith community as well as helps organize the Eugene Multicultural Storytelling Festival. He has served on the board of the National Association for Multicultural Education as the Region 10 Director.

Arun has traveled extensively in Europe, North America, Central America and Mexico as well as in his homeland of India. An avid nature lover, Arun has hiked and camped in dozens of national parks, climbed many peaks over 10,000 feet high in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central America. Arun has bicycled over 3,000 kilometers in Northern Europe and walked 500 kilometers as a part of a peace walk in Central America. He speaks four languages, including Spanish. He tries to live by his multicultural, ecological and spiritual values.

Arun can talk from his own experiences and about various themes related to his work. These include: Multicultural Issues in Today's World, Energy Conservation and Ecology, Transportation Systems, International Understanding, Community and Multilingual Living, and of course, How to Get Your Students Published in a Magazine. His talks are light-hearted yet with substance, entertaining and educational. Arun has also offered storytelling sessions at elementary and middle schools. The honorarium for Arun's time is modest and it helps our nonprofit work. We will work within your budget.

Arun is the 2011 recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Community Leadership Award of the City of Eugene.