* Robert Alden Rubin had a writing teacher for a father, and as a child his babysitters included such future literary heavyweights as Lee Smith and Annie Dilllard. He aspired to be a cartoonist, but in college he had the misfortune of being the next-best cartoonist on campus to Bill Watterson, of "Calvin and Hobbes" fame, and turned instead to the written word, becoming Watterson's editor on the Kenyon College newspaper. * He has worked as a a journalist, a writing teacher, and as an editor for Carolina Quarterly, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Instrument Society of America, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. He was awarded the 2015 Allen Tate Prize for Poetry by Sewanee Review.* Rubin holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from Hollins University, and a Ph.D in English Literature from UNC-Chapel Hill. He has taught creative writing, professional writing, and business communications at The George Washington University, at UNC-Chapel Hill, and Meredith College. He lives near Raleigh, North Carolina.