Michelle Menting is the author of the full-length poetry collection, Leaves Surface Like Skin (Terrapin Books), and two poetry chapbooks. Her poems, essays, and short stories can be found in Cincinnati Review, Harper Palate, EcoTheo Review, Cimarron Review, About Place, SWWIM, and Diagram, among other places, and previous poems have been featured on American Life in Poetry, Verse Daily, and in various poetry anthologies. A recipient of scholarships from Sewanee and Bread Loaf writers' conferences and a Maine Literary Award finalist, Michelle has been awarded for her written work with residencies from Hewnoaks Artist Colony, Joseph A. Fiore Art Center, Crosshatch/Hill House, and the National Park Service, where she served as Poet-in-Residence on Isle Royale National Park, an International Biosphere Reserve.

Michelle holds a a PhD from the University of Nebraska, an MFA and MA from Northern Michigan University, and a BA from the University of Wisconsin. Her research and teaching interests include creative writing (all genres), 20th & 21st century poetry & literature, place & bioregional studies, ecopoetics & ecocomposition, and animal studies. She is also interested in the history of the essay, writing humor, as well as in hybrid forms of literature and writing.