Kelly Ian is an author of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. His writing career took off at age nine when he won a poetry contest, wrote a letter for a time capsule, and wrote to the U.S. president about the Olympics boycott. His creative works have appeared in Time Magazine, Redbook, Bicycling, Dirt Rag, and Fine Woodworking, among others. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and is a recipient of the Eloise Klein Healy scholarship. His writing has appeared in Ariel Chart, Paragraph Planet, Eye, KNOCK, Lunch Ticket, and Alternate Route. He is the senior editor, designer, and all-around grunt for Short Beasts.

His influences include Gayle Brandeis, John Steinbeck, Haruki Murakami, Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, JD Salinger, Jack Kerouac, Raymond Carver, Chris Ware, C.S. Lewis, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Stephen King, Alma Luz Villanueva, Peter Selgin, Natsumi Soseki, Francesca Lia Block, and Ursula K. LeGuin.

Kelly’s novels have been mentored by Gayle Brandeis, Alma Luz Villanueva, Kerry Madden-Lunsford, and Francesca Lia Block.

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