Chaun Ballard was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and San Bernardino, California. He holds an MFA from the University of Alaska-Anchorage, and his poems have recently been published in Anomaly, Columbia Poetry Review, HEArt Online, Rattle, and Pittsburgh Poetry Review, earning nominations for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Although he calls Alaska his home, for the past eight years he and his wife have served as educators in the Middle East and West Africa.