Allison Boyd Justus grew up at the southern edge of McMinnville, Tennessee, in the shadow of Ben Lomond Mountain.
At Freed-Hardeman University, she pursued studies in literature, music, and biblical languages, as well as excursions in threatening weather, theatre, and late-night metaphysical deliberations over AOL Instant Messenger, resulting in an Arts & Humanities degree, an English minor, and a Master of Arts in New Testament Studies.
Allison has worked as a waitress, a library assistant, an ESL teacher, and a gifted education facilitator. Her poetry has appeared in Penwood Review, Nibble, Calliope, Madcap Review, Quail Bell, and Contemporary American Voices, within a mural at a science discovery center, and on the podcast Versify. Allison once spent a year watching sunrises, a project which developed into her first book, Solstice to Solstice to Solstice (Alternating Current Press, 2017). A first year student in Iowa State's MFA program, Allison brings to her writing interests in linguistics, mysticism, biblical translation and exegesis, ecology, feminism, midrash, and the intellectual and artistic implications of intense sensory and emotional experiences.