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Kevin Stewart, David Gavin, and Tom Franklin

Kevin Stewart was born in Kittery, Maine. He earned his BS in Civil Engineering from Bluefield State University in 1987, his BA in English from Concord University in 1991, and an MA in English from Radford University. He graduated with his MFA from the University of Arkansas in 1996. He is the author of Margot: A Novella (1999), which won the Texas Review Novella Prize, as well as The Way Things Always Happen Here (2012), among other works. He serves as an Associate Professor of English at Carroll College in Montana.

David Gavin was born in Galway, Ireland, in 1946. He earned a BA from Portland State University and was awarded the Academy of American Poets Prize before enrolling at the University of Arkansas’s creative writing program. After attaining his MFA from the University of Arkansas, he has published short stories in Nebraska Review, The Texas Thoroughbred, poetry in The Common, and nonfiction in Upstreet and Little Patuxent Review. He taught English at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, and at Des Moines Area Community College before his retirement.

Tom Franklin was born on July 7, 1963 in Dickson, Alabama. He earned his BA at the University of South Alabama in 1990 before attaining his MFA at the University of Arkansas in 1998. The titular story of his first short story collection Poachers (1999) won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Short Story. He is also the author of celebrated novels Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter (2010) and The Tilted World (2013), both of which take place in Mississippi. Franklin currently serves as Associate Professor of Fiction Writing at the University of Mississippi.