Allison Landa

Allison Landa is a Berkeley, Calif.-based writer who has held residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and the Julia and David White Artists' Colony. She received her MFA in creative writing from St. Mary's College of California, and this essay is excerpted from "Bearded Lady," a memoir in the works. Visit her at www.allisonlanda.com.