Jay Atkinson is a novelist, short story writer, essayist, critic, investigative journalist, and itinerant amateur athlete from Methuen, Mass. He is the author of two novels, a story collection, and three narrative nonfiction books, with a fourth, MEMOIRS OF A RUGBY-PLAYING MAN, forthcoming from St. Martin's Press. Atkinson's latest books are PARADISE ROAD: JACK KEROUAC'S LOST HIGHWAY (Wiley & Sons) and TAUVERNIER STREET (Livingston Press, University of West Alabama). His book, ICE TIME (Crown Publishers), was a Publisher's Weekly book of the year in 2001, and LEGENDS OF WINTER HILL (Crown Publishers) was on the Boston Globe bestseller list for seven consecutive weeks in 2005. Atkinson has written for the New York Times, Men's Health, Boston Globe, New York Post, and many other publications. A former two-sport college athlete at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada, Atkinson has competed in rugby for three decades and continues to play in exotic locales with the Vandals Rugby Club out of Los Angeles, California.