Jill McCorkle is the author of five novels—The Cheerleader, July 7th, Tending to Virginia, Ferris Beach, and Carolina Moon—and three story collections, most recently Creatures of Habit. Her work has appeared in_ The Atlantic_, Ploughshares, Best American Short Stories, and New Stories from the South, among other publications. The recipient of the New England Book Award, the John Dos Passos Prize, and the North Carolina Award for Literature, she has taught creative writing at UNC-Chapel Hill, Tufts, Harvard, and Brandeis. She is currently on faculty at North Carolina State University and in the Bennington Writing Seminars. (10/2007)