Melanie Simms is a senior at Shippensburg University, majoring in English Literature and International Studies.   Publications of her poetry, op.eds and journalist pieces have been included in various journals, e-zines and newspapers including: Zuzu's Petals, The Patriot News, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, Peshekee River Review poetry, among many others.

Presently, Simms is the President of Shippensburg University Poetry, President of APPL (Association of Pennsylvania Poet Laureates) and the new 2005 Poet Laureate of Perry County, Pa.  She is also widely active as an activist for the learning disabled with her interviews having appeared in many newspapers on the subject of math dyscalculia.

She comes from a proud family heritage of writers that include a descendency to the poet William Dunbar, an uncle, Pulitzer prize winning war journalist Patrick Sloyan, as well as a cousin, Fred Purdy, former US Diplomat to Santiago, Chile.