Melissa Allen

Board member
Madison, Wisconsin
 
Melissa Allen was born and raised in rural Connecticut but has lived most of her adult life in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband and son. After receiving a B.A. in Russian language and literature, she spent many years working in libraries and bookstores and as a freelance journalist, as well as educating her son at home and attempting to write fiction.

She is currently a graduate student working toward a master's degree in library science, with a focus on digital libraries and digital archives. She has helped create digital exhibits of archival materials at the Wisconsin Historical Society and the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center.

Melissa began writing haiku in 2010, discovered that she enjoyed it far more than writing fiction, and soon afterward started her haiku blog, Red Dragonfly. Her haiku, tanka, and haibun have been published widely and she is also the news editor of Haijinx and the online Bulletin editor for the Haiku Society of America.

spring snow
the chill of
ultrasound jelly

                                                    abandoned building site wildflowers in progress

fireflies
something invisible
keeps appearing