Melissa Joplin Higley

Poet

Mamaroneck, NY
New York US
Email: 
melissajoplinhigley@gmail.com
Website: 
melissajoplinhigley.com
Twitter/X: 
@melissajhigley
RSS feed: 
melissajoplinhigley.com/feed/

Author's Bio

Melissa holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, co-founded and co-facilitates the Poetry Craft Collective, works as MER Book Reviews Co-Editor, and serves as the 2024-2026 Mamaroneck Author Laureate. She has traveled internationally as a sound engineer with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble and Disney’s The Lion King North American Tour, and she has worked as a trumpet teacher, yoga teacher, editor, manuscript reader, and writing consultant. Melissa lives near the sea in New York with her multi-generational family and four tuxedo cats.

Education: 
Sarah Lawrence College MFA

Publications & Prizes

Chapbook:
First Father (Bottlecap Press, 2023)
Journals:
BODY
,
Rogue Agent
,
Whale Road Review
Prizes won: 

“Anticipatory Grief,” Grand Prize Winner, 90th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition, 2021.

First Father (Bottlecap Press), Finalist, Lefty Blondie Press Inaugural Chapbook Prize, 2023.

“Starfish Bodies Aren’t Bodies At All,” Finalist, Lefty Blondie Press Inaugural Editor’s Choice Broadside Series, 2024.

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Diane Seuss, Sharon Olds, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marie Howe, Virginia Woolf, Miranda July, Anne Carson, Lucille Clifton, Ilya Kaminsky, Ada Limon, Ellen Bass, W. S. Merwin, Mark Strand, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sylvia Plath, Ocean Vuong, C. Dale Young, Elizabeth Strout, Sherman Alexie, and many others...
What I'm reading now: 
Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf, The First Bad Man by Miranda July, Ariel by Sylvia Plath

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
American
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, Children, Disability, Illness/Wellness, Naturalists/Environmentalists, Parents, Schools, Seniors, Teachers, Teenagers, Women
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
WA
Washington
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Sep 27, 2024