It was the early 1970’s. Jeffrey Allen was attending Boston University where he was majoring in history with a minor in set-design and fine-art. However, uncertainty, restlessness, and tuition woes got the better of him. After a one year hiatus, in the form of a nationwide hitchhiking trip,

Allen returned home and began the task of assembling his art portfolio so he could apply for acceptance into the Rhode Island School of Design. Discouraged by his father, and in need of income, he took an apprenticeship position as a cabinetmaker. Within a year’s time, Jeffrey had achieved journeyman status and was named foreman of the cabinet company were he was working. Still committed to nurturing his creative talents, Allen left that position in order to attend Millersville State University where he was an honors graduate earning a Bachelor of Science degree in architectural design and industrial arts education.

Allen taught school for two years while working toward his Masters degree at Temple University. Again, restlessness took over and Allen left his fledgling teaching career and went to work for a respected architectural woodworking company in northeast Philadelphia. There he gained his status as a master-cabinetmaker. In 1981, he created his own architectural woodworking firm. By 1984, Allen’s company had grown to be one of the most highly regarded shops in eastern Pennsylvania, employing over twenty people. With remarkable creativity and a feel for emerging technologies he expanded his business to offer full design services and residential electronic integration.

In 1996, Allen received his fifty ton US Coastguard captain's license and followed that with extensive sailing adventures and chartered voyages. In 2006, Allen was awarded the Colonel Holt Business Achievement Award. In 2007, he sold his Architectural woodworking business, and in 2009 published his first novel, Gone Away, Into the Land.

Today, Mr. Allen lives in Bethlehem, PA. He is a teacher of writing at Northampton Community College, a fellow of the National Writing Project at Penn State University, and he sits on the board of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group. Jeffrey Allen is a frequent lecturer on subjects as wide ranging as architectural design, writing and publishing, the philosophy behind his new novel, Gone Away, Into the Land, or his unique style of integrating relevant social issues into Magical Realism.