Photo by Rev. Jason Ferris
A. C. Missias (born Andrea C. Missias, 1967, U.S.-administered Okinawa, Japan), PhD neuroscientist and editor in applied mathematics as well as haikai poet, editor, and critic. One of the earliest (from 1996) participants in the Shiki Internet Haiku Salon, Missias’s love for and understanding of haiku was cultivated though interaction with leading Japanese and American haikuists. In 1996 she won the 1st International Haiku Contest, the prize for which was a trip to Japan. Missias was the founder and first editor (1998–2007) of Acorn: A Journal of Contemporary Haiku and its associated Redfox Press. She is a also a noted critic and author of articles on haikai and wrote a column, CyberPond, for the Haiku Society of America’s journal Frogpond. She has lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1996, and, with parental responsibilities behind her, she is now emerging from an 18-year hiatus in her poetry activities.
Note: This is an abstract of a longer biographical article to come.