Who is Alison Mechelle Caddell?

Alison Mechelle Caddell is a poet, author, educator, and interdisciplinary artist based in North Alabama and raised in the historic college town of Tuskegee, Alabama. Her creative work includes poetry, short stories, writing prompts, visual art, and performance, with a particular interest in Southern Gothic and Black Southern Gothic literature, professional writing, and the power of storytelling.

Growing up in Tuskegee, Alison was surrounded by artists, educators, scholars, storytellers, and cultural legends who helped shape her lifelong love of the arts. Early experiences with visual art, theatre, literature, and the legacy of George Washington Carver influenced her understanding of creativity as both an art and a way of engaging with the world. Her writing is also shaped by the folklore, superstitions, ghost stories, religious traditions, and complex cultural history of the American South.

These influences are particularly evident in Rinda, a collection of Black Southern Gothic short stories set in the fictional town of Creek City, Alabama. Her other published works include Writing for Healing, a collection of writing prompts inspired by the Twelve Steps of Recovery, and The Courtship and the Hunt: Poems on Desire, Discernment, and Devotion.

A lifelong lover of the arts, Alison continues to write, create visual art, read, crochet, and participate in the literary, theatre, and arts communities of North Alabama. She regularly attends and participates in poetry events, theatre productions, and other creative gatherings throughout the region.

Her latest book, Rinda, is available in eBook, trade paperback, and large-print paperback editions through multiple platforms.