Allison Vrbova

Allison Vrbova holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and her essays and narrative journalism have been featured in Fourth Genre, Under the Gum Tree, Drunken Boat, Fourth River, Hunger Mountain Journal and Green Mountains Review, among others. She is currently pursuing publication of her first full-length essay collection titled She Would Leave Her Heart. Drawing on her experience as a mother, as well as the decade she spent as a caseworker for chronically homeless men in downtown Seattle, the collection weaves together stories of school shootings and labor pains, mental illness and mundane household chores, caring for our aging parents and learning to accept care when we ourselves fall ill. She Would Leave Her Heart is a raw exploration of mothering, in its many forms. Allison lives in Bellingham, WA with her husband and two children: a son in elementary school and a daughter just entering middle school.

You can find her on Instagram and Twitter @allisonvrbova or at www.allisonvrbova.com