Named after Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim, he’s been exposed to poetry and literature since birth. Diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Kimmy Alan pursed his love of poetry as a distraction while undergoing chemo and radiation. For him, poetry has proven to be a powerful catharsis, as he is currently in remission. When he isn’t writing, he spends time with his four wonderful nieces, whom he says “are driving him to pieces.”