Colleen Alles is a writer, former librarian & teacher, and Michigan girl for life. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Michigan State University (2005) and her MLIS from Wayne State University (2015). Her debut short fiction collection, Close to a Flame, was a 2025 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist; it was also named one of Lit Hub’s 100 Notable Small Press Books (2025). Her novella, Incident at Twin Lakes Resort, won the Etchings Press 2025 novella competition; The Very Terrible Drowning of Bryan Price (coming in 2026) was longlisted by Regal House Publishing for its Fugere Book Prize for Finely Crafted Novellas (2023). Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Red Cedar Review, Tar River Poetry, The Write Michigan Anthology, The Michigan Poet, and other places.

Colleen is co-editor for fiction with Barren Magazine and is currently pursuing her MFA at Spalding University. Her house is chaotic with young children and a hound, so don’t be shocked to encounter poems about chaotic houses, small children, or hounds. Colleen writes, runs, reads, and worries she wouldn’t make sense outside the Midwest.

Colleen is represented by Jenna Satterthwaite (Storm Literary Agency).