Melissa Juchniewicz is a New England writer and a member of New Hampshire Writers' Project, Hyla Brook Poetry Workshop, and other writing communities.  A winner of the MacGregor Prize for Poetry and a frequent featured reader, her literary publications include short fiction in Orca, BrightFlash, and The Offering, and poetry in Light and Poet’s Touchstone. Her anthologized short fiction titles include Blue Collar by FreeSpirit Press, in which “Working” (one of her signature “Will and May” stories) took first prize. Melissa founded a memoir writing workshop for elders in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and continues to facilitate it. She directs the Summer Reading Series at the Robert Frost Farm in Derry, New Hampshire. Her first book of poetry Leap of Faith is available now. ‍

Dr. Juchniewicz teaches writing, as well as children’s and young adult literature, at University of Massachusetts Lowell. Her hometown is Concord, Massachusetts. She lives in Chester, New Hampshire.