Jason Allen’s debut novel, The East End, was published with HarperCollins/Park Row Books, for which Bonnie Jo Campbell provided the cover blurb: “Every page is filled with wise insights about social class and the human heart.” Jason has since been nominated for an Edgar Award and the Georgia Author of the Year Award. His poetry collection, A Meditation on Fire, was originally published by SEMO University Press, and he recently completed a memoir, Collapsing Stars, which delves into his working-class roots and family legacy of addiction. He has published essays with Salon, Literary Hub, and The Strand Magazine, and has been interviewed for The Rumpus, Fiction Writers Review, and numerous literary podcasts. Jason has an MFA from Pacific University and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from Binghamton University, and he now teaches creative writing in the MFA program at Wichita State University and lives in Kansas with his sweet rescue dog, Luna.