Born and raised at the tip of the Appalachian Mountains in northern Alabama, Chella Courington grew up in a family of storytellers. Seduced by the written word, she pursued a Doctorate in Literature at the University of South Carolina and studied with James Dickey. In 2002 she moved to California with an economist and two cats before returning to poetry. Now teaching at Santa Barbara City College, she has poetry published or is forthcoming in Carquinez Poetry Review, Phantasmagoria, Ibbetson St Press, In The Grove, Iris (online), The Tusculum Review, Lotus Blooms Journal, King Log, NILAS, Healing Voice, and several anthologies. Her first chapbook, published by Foothills Publishing of New York in November 2004, is entitled Southern Girl Gone Wrong.