Hilary Sloin began her writing career as a playwright in the 80s. Her plays, which were mostly gay-themed and fairly subversive, were widely produced in the U.S. Lust and Pity was given main stage productions at the Westbank Café in NY, Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco, Alice B. Theatre in Seattle, Bailiwick Theatre in Chicago, and others. Other plays were produced in LA and at Smith College and received readings in NY. After a time, she switched to essays and short fiction, publishing in many small journals and anthologies and attending a number of residencies. Art on Fire was her first attempt at a novel and it took a long time to write. It garnered many accolades, including the bizarre honor of being mistakenly awarded prizes for non-fiction; there were those in the industry who wanted to publish it, thinking it was a biography, which, crazy as it is, attests to the success of the book’s intention. Sloin has recently completed a collection of short fiction entitled The Cure for Unhappiness and is currently at work on a manuscript about selling antiques, Pimpin’ the Frontier. When she isn’t writing she is usually refinishing or restoring antiques.