R. A. Allen's poetry has appeared in the New York Quarterly, RHINO, The Penn Review, B O D Y, London Grip, Cloudbank, and elsewhere. He's been anthologized in Celestial Musings and has been nominated for Best of the Net 2020 and the Pushcart Prize. His fiction has been published in The Literary Review, The Barcelona Review, PANK, The Los Angeles Review, and Best American Mystery Stories 2010, among others. R. A. lives in Memphis and was born on the same day the Donner Party resorted to cannibalism: December 26th.