Melanie Graham received her Ph.D. in poetry from the University of Lancaster, UK, in 2013 and is finishing her MFA at Sierra Nevada College, where she was awarded an Exceptional Manuscript Scholarship by Brian Turner. Her poems have been finalists in several national competitions including T​he Southeast Review, 10 Years and Counting’s Occupy Your Imagination Contest, Split This Rock, a​nd S​o To Speak. Her poem “Nip of Teeth” was just awarded Main Street Rag’s Kakalak Poetry Prize for 2016.