Melanie Almeder studied literature, creative writing, and art history at the University of Virginia. She received an M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Massachusetts, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in contemporary novel and narrative theory from the University of Florida. Her first collection of poetry, On Dream Street, won the Editors' Prize at Tupelo Press, and was a finalist for the Walt Whitman Award. Her poetry has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize. Almeder conducted a workshop with the Free School for Writing.