Biographical Notes:

​Originally from Billings, Montana, I went to Dartmouth College, majoring in literature and creative writing. After college, I moved to Washington, DC, working as a speech-writer and deputy press secretary for U.S. Senator Max Baucus. 

Four years proved to be more than enough political tail-chasing, so I left DC to pursue my MFA, studying fiction at the University of Montana. Three years later, with a bruised-but-intact ego, I moved to Chicago, where I started teaching English and literature at Kennedy-King College. I am now the chair of the Communications Department. In my spare time, I'm an assistant editor for the literary journal Identity Theory.

My writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Threepenny Review, Literal Latte, The Adirondack Review, and the German edition of Le Monde diplomatique, among many others. In 2008, I received an Artists Fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council. In 2014, my debut novel, The Last Good Halloween, was named as a finalist in the High Plains Book Award first novel category. My short story collection, What We Build Upon the Ruins, was released in fall 2017. 

I live on the South Side of Chicago with my wife and three dogs.  

---