• Received MFA from the University of Iowa • Author of over thirty books in various genres, including genre fiction, poetry, and criticism • Sold 100,000 with psychological thriller The Church of Dead Girls • Work has been translated into twenty languages • trained in journalism – a reporter for the Detroit News • fellowships from NEA and Guggenheim Foundation; winner of multiple Pushcart Prizes • two of his novels have become movies • Best Words, Best Order ranks among the finest books written about poetry • story-teller par excellence