Melissa McKinstry’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, Beloit Poetry Journal, Rattle, Poetry Northwest, Tahoma Literary Review, and Alaska Quarterly Review, among other journals, and was selected for inclusion in the Best New Poets anthology 2023, now available at the University of Virginia Press.

In the summer of 2024, she was selected as second place for The Maine Review Environs Prize, finalist for the Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Prize, and finalist for the Ninth Letter Literary Awards. The Summer/Fall issue of Poetry Northwest includes one of her poems.

She’s been a semifinalist for the Chad Walsh Chapbook Prize and the Persea Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize, a finalist for the Autumn House Rising Writer Prize, a nominee for Best of the Net, and a two-time nominee for Pushcart Prizes. In 2024 she was selected as one of six Djanikian Scholars in Poetry by The Adroit Journal and as the inaugural writer-in-residence at the Millay House Rockland, selected by Mark Doty. She earned her MFA in poetry at Pacific University and a BA in English Literature at the University of Washington.

Melissa’s son, Charlie, was born with an undiagnosed genetic disorder and required full care from birth. With a loving family and care community, he lived 26 years. He passed away in November 2022. Some of Melissa’s poetry explores her life with Charlie.

Melissa taught high school English, helped found the Coronado School of the Arts, and was part of the team that developed a new high school for the San Diego Jewish Academy. She designed curriculum for the humanities department of the upper school based on the question How are we to live? She grew and chaired the humanities department and advised student publications.

Melissa and her husband Doug live, write, and design in San Diego. Since November 2016, they have been curating a Poet Tree in their neighborhood to foster community, respect, curiosity, and care via poetry and design. Melissa also teaches a weekly restorative yoga class in her neighborhood studio: “Deep Yoga + a Poem.” She is currently a volunteer on the inaugural Alumni Council for the Pacific University MFA program and a research, editorial, and production assistant for poet Ellen Bass.