Kelsey Francis grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., but has been a high school English teacher and writer living in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York since 2000. Her work has been published in Porcupine Literary, Longleaf Review, Adirondack Life Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and elsewhere. She has stories included in two anthologies coming this fall, Rooted 2: The Best Arboreal Nonfiction published by Outpost 19, and Already Gone: 40 Stories of Running Away published by Alan Squire Publishing.

In 2020, Kelsey was selected as one of six writers in residence at the Adirondack Center for Writing’s two-week Anne LaBastille Memorial Writing Residency, as well as a teaching fellow for The New York Times Teaching Project.

Kelsey earned her MFA in Creative Writing Nonfiction from the low-residency Mountainview MFA program at Southern New Hampshire University in 2023. She also holds a BA in English Literature and an MA in English Education.

When Kelsey’s not teaching or writing, you might find her performing at a HOWL Story Slam, running, or hiking with her husband and three children. And when she’s too tired for anything else, she enjoys watching Derry Girls over and over again with her dog, Maple.