Rita R. Melissano, Ph.D. is a Touchstone Award nominated Poet. Her presence in the micro poetry field has been quickly noticed and her work received special commentaries. She has been the featured Reader in poetry events, her poems published in national and international poetry journals, anthologies, and featured on websites & podcasts. She is the recipient of the Honorable Mention award of the Mt. Fuji Taisho Tanka Contest 2024.

A first-time author, she surprises the literary world by releasing not one, but two books at once and creating her own series: AIKU The Way of Love: a story told in Haiku, with The Way of Love: a collection of Tanka. Her third book in the series will debut at the end of the year.

"The Way of Love" series combines her passion for poetry with her commitment to raise consciousness, promote healing & mindful living, and transmute suffering through the alchemy of love. Walking The Way is becoming who we are, aware and awakened in the place we are destined to be in this life: our heart.

To know more about the author's rich background, dive into the visual, literary, auditory and spiritual experience offered on her website www.thewayof.love.

A clinical psychologist from Italy, she obtained her doctorate in marriage and family therapy from BYU, UT, feeling at home in international settings. She is a world traveler who speaks several languages and has studied all the major ancient spiritual traditions and cultures. She lives in a forest overlooking the Mississippi which inspires her writing, mindfulness practice & teachings, photography, oneness with Nature and the wonders of The Way...of Love.