Allison's Biography
over Obsessed with love and kindness, Allison is a loveaholic.
In fact, she’s the original creator who coins the word “loveaholic.”
Allison was born and raised in Taiwan and arrived in the US at twenty-two as a university student. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and writes in both Chinese and English, both fiction and nonfiction for both adult and young readers. She is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author. Her work appears in the New York Times and HuffPost and has won both national and international literary prizes. Her debut memoir, Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops, has won over 70 book awards, including Grand Prize in the 2021 Millennium Book Award (UK) and Grand Prize in the 2022 Self Unbound Book Awards. Focus on Women Magazine awarded her the title “Woman of Impact.”
Besides serving on the executive board of Calliope Writing Coach Program and being a permanent staff of Writing Away Refuge, Allison is also a writer-in-residence at Château d’Orquevaux (France), Essere Residency (Italy), and Rosemary’s House (Greece), a former committee member of Storymakers Conference, and a former editor at Dialogue Journal. She is also a frequent conference keynote speaker, instructor, and panelist. She appears on TV, radio, and podcasts; in magazines, newspapers, and journals.
Allison is available nationwide, by arrangement, for interviews, teaching, and speaking engagements. Sign up for her short monthly email for book news, event updates, and discounts.
As Seen On:
Allison's Work
- MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
- Featured interviewee on ABC4 Good Things Utah
https://www.abc4.com/gtu/inspirational-story-of-a-taiwanese-immigrant/ - Special Guest on BYUTV Come Follow Up. June 20, 2024.
ANTHOLOGIES
♦ “The Trench Coat of Multiple Colors.” Fifty Years of Exponent II. Signature Books. August 2024
♦ “Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops.” San Francisco Writers Conference Anthology. November 2023
♦ “Get a Cookie.” Writer’s Success Secrets Anthology. Living Tree Publishing. December 2022 (The Wall Street Journal Bestselling Book)
♦ “American Visitors.” More Inspirational Stories for Young Women Anthology. Walnut Springs Press. November 2022
♦ “Jiaqi.” LDS Beta Reader Mind Game Anthology. March 20, 2017
♦ “Blurry License Plate.” Life Story Anthology (Taipei, Taiwan). December 2009
ARTICLES
♦ “A Fulfilled Promise.” BYU Y Magazine. Summer Issue, 2024
♦ “A Final Goodbye.” Modern Love Column Tiny Love Stories. The New York Times. December 12, 2023
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/style/tiny-modern-love-stories-not-the-romance-id-imagined.html?searchResultPosition=1♦ “I Tried To Track Down 3 Strangers I’d Met on Vacation With Just A Photo. 4 Days Later, I Got a Miracle.” HuffPost Personal. HuffPost. December 11, 2023 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vacation-missed-connection-facebook-photo_n_6555475be4b0998d699ebd3a?bor#
♦ “A Message to My Younger Self.” Modern Love Column Tiny Love Stories. The New York Times. October 11, 2022
♦ “The Legend of Conner Thredgold.” Liahona Magazine (Taipei, Taiwan). October 2014
♦ “Two Pioneers Across Two Centuries.” Ensign Magazine. August 2010
PERSONAL ESSAYS
♦ National Champion (GRAND PRIZE Winner) in the 2010 Life Story writing contest. Taipei, Taiwan
♦ INAUGURAL Winner of the 2020 First Pages Prize in the Creative Nonfiction category.
♦ GRAND PRIZE Winner of the 2019 MAST People of Earth writing contest
♦ FIRST PLACE Winner of the 2019 Segullah Journal writing contest
♦ FIRST PLACE Winner of the 2020 Opossum Prize Flash Prose Contest
♦ FIRST PLACE Winner of the 2023 AWP Kurt Brown WC&C Scholarships for Creative Nonfiction
♦ 2024 Consulate General of The People’s Republic of China “Trending China” Writing Contest Winner
♦ 2024 Pushcart Prize nominee
♦ 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee
♦ Runner-up Winner in the 2020 Quarter 2 Women On Writing Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
♦ Third Place Winner in the 2015 Storymakers Conference First Chapter Contest
♦ Shortlisted finalist in the 2020 DL Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence
♦ Shortlisted finalist in the 2020 Fish Publishing Memoir Award
♦ Shortlisted finalist in the 2019 Eyelands Book Awards (Athens, Greece)
♦ Shortlisted finalist in the 2019 New Millennium Writing Award XLVIII
♦ Shortlisted finalist in the 2014 Serendipity Memoir Discovery Contest
♦ Finalist in the 2021 Pinch First Page Prize
♦ Finalist in the 2020 Midway Journal Flash Prose and Poetry Contest
♦ Finalist in the 2020 Q3 Women On Writing Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
♦ Finalist in the Tulip Tree Publishing Stories that Need to be Told Writing Contest
♦ Finalist in the inaugural CRAFT Literary Journal Nonfiction Contest
♦ Honorable Mention in the 79th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Contest
♦ Honorable Mention in the 89th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Contest
♦ Honorable Mention in the 2020 Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest
♦ “Goodbye, Baba.” Advent Calendar of Latter-day Saint Literature. December 3, 2025
♦ “A Promise Fulfilled.” BYU Y Magazine. Summer 2024
♦ “The Trench Coat of Multiple Colors.” Exponent II Magazine. Fall 2023 (Nominated for Pushcart Prize)
♦ “Words of Wisdom.” Let Her Speak. August 16, 2021.
♦ “Feed Her Nolens Volens.” The Allison Hong Merrill Exhibit. March 10, 2021
♦ “Paradise is Other People.” Thrive 125, Celebrating Utah’s Statehood. January 4, 2021 https://thrive125.utah.gov/merrill/
♦ “Amy Youngblood’s New Best Friend.” Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library Exhibit. January 1, 2021
♦ “Starter Wife.” Cosmonauts Avenue Journal. July 2020
♦ “Where?” Women On Writing Quarter 2. 2020 https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/2020/05/meet-allison-hong-merrill-runner-up-in.html
♦ “January 15, 2010.” Past-Ten Journal. January 15, 2020 https://www.past-ten.com/single-post/allisonhongmerrill
♦ “Kingdom of Shoes.” Opossum Journal. 2020 (First Place Prize Winner) https://opossumlit.com/kingdom-of-shoes-鞋子王國
♦ “The Gift.” Winning Writers. 2020 Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest Honorable Mention. https://winningwriters.com/past-winning-entries/the-gift
♦ “Lightning Whisperer.” Flying South Literary Magazine. 2019 (Nominated for Pushcart Prize)
♦ “Yujie.” Motherscope Magazine. December 2019
♦ “Review of Crossing.” Dialogue Journal. Fall 2019
♦ “Goodbye, Baba.” Segullah Journal Prose Contest Winner. January 2019 https://segullah.org/2019-prose-contest-winner-goodbye-baba-by-allison-merrill
https://www.centerforlatterdaysaintarts.org/advent-calendar
♦ “The Child’s Palace.” MAST People of Earth Writing Contest Winner. 2019
Author One Sheet
