Alessandra Gelmi attended boarding school in Rome and received her BA in English from Barnard College, Columbia University. She was awarded a teaching fellowship from Boston University, where she received her master’s degree and taught creative writing under the aegis of three Nobel Laureates. Her literary awards include the Irene Leache Memorial Prize and the Amy Loveman Competition (open to Columbia University). A former member of The White House Correspondents’ Association, Alessandra has written for dozens of magazines, three national daily newspapers, and has interviewed personalities from Stallone to Coretta Scott King. Her original plays He and She and Falling Stars were performed at The Source Theatre Festival and The National Theater in Washington, D.C. Her published poems are archived at Bowdoin College, Boston University, Columbia University and Dartmouth College (where she studied with Richard Eberhart and reviewed Alexander Laing’s poetry collection “Brandt Point” for The Dartmouth). In 2003 Alessandra was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in literature.