Tracy Daugherty is Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing at Oregon State University. He has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has written biographies of several important 20th-century American writers, including his recently published Larry McMurtry: A Life. He has also written ten books of fiction, including four prior novels: Desire Provoked, What Falls Away, The Boy Orator, and Axeman's Jazz.