Colum McCannis the internationally bestselling author of the novelsZoli,Dancer, This Side of Brightness,andSongdogs,as well as two critically acclaimed story collections. His fiction has been published in thirty languages. He has been a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was the inaugural winner of the Ireland Fund of Monaco Literary Award in Memory of Princess Grace. He has been named one of Esquireamp;#8217;s amp;#8220;Best and Brightest,amp;#8221; and his short film Everything in This Country Mustwas nominated for an Oscar in 2005. A contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Paris Review, he teaches in the Hunter College MFA Creative Writing Program. He lives in New York City with his wife and their three children. From the Hardcover edition.