Ann Mallen is a writer, gardener, activist, and patient advocate based in West Palm Beach and Pittsburgh. Her writing often focuses on the struggle of the individual in relation to institutional, psycho-social, and cultural power. She is fascinated (and horrified) by the current perceptual differences in what power is and where it resides.

She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Connecticut and cum laude with a Master of Arts in Teaching from Quinnipiac University. She received fellowships and scholarships for several writing conferences. She attended Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference as a contributor in fiction for 2012 and as a contributor in nonfiction for 2017.

Her work has been read on NPR’s local Florida Arts View and performed publicly in South Florida. It has also appeared in The Cortland Review, Grey Sparrow, CALYX, Reed Magazine, The Palm Beach Post, The Washington Post, HuffPost and elsewhere. Her short story collection was short-listed for both the Eludia Award and the Serena McDonald Kennedy Award.

When she’s not writing, she bikes, hikes, gardens, and bakes fancy treats. In Florida, she grows orchids, mangoes, papayas, and plants that butterflies love. In Pittsburgh, she grows heirloom pole beans, bishop crown hot peppers, and leafy greens.

She is a former teacher (middle school, high school, and college) and the former founder and director of The Cream Literary Alliance a 501(3)c, a nonprofit. For nine years, the organization provided craft classes taught by accomplished writers and curated public literary readings. Read more about The Cream here.

Artist’s Statement: Ann Mallen works to support the vulnerable by using the power of words to lift voices: hers, others’, Mother Nature’s, and now, even the voice of democracy. The natural world and humans are interconnected. The power that nurtures, heals, and supports life is greater than that which dominates and controls. Increasing our compassion, decency, and love…for our fellow human, for the earth, for clean water and air, and for democracy, is the only way to ensure survival and allow future generations to thrive.