Allen Kelly

Allen Kelly was an American writer remembered today for Bears I Have Met—and Others (1903), a collection of stories drawn from his experiences in the West. In the book's preface, he says these pieces grew out of roughly twenty-five years of intermittent wandering and hunting on the Pacific Slope, which gives the writing its firsthand, conversational feel.

Sources from the period and later references also connect him with journalism. Accounts about California's famous grizzly "Monarch" describe Kelly as a young reporter sent by William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner to capture a live grizzly in 1889, an episode that fits closely with the world he writes about in his book.

His work appeals to readers who enjoy animal stories, outdoor memoir, and snapshots of an earlier American frontier. Even when the tales lean into the exaggeration hunters are famous for, the charm comes from his mix of practical detail, dry humor, and obvious fascination with wild country.