Tara Ison is the author of the novels THE LIST, A CHILD OUT OF ALCATRAZ, a Finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and ROCKAWAY, which was featured in O, the Oprah Magazine, as one of the "Best Books of Summer" in July 2013. Her forthcoming books are REELING THROUGH LIFE, a collection of essays, and BALL, a short story collection. Her short fiction, essays, poetry and book reviews have appeared in numerous journals, magazines, newspapers and anthologies. She is also the co-writer of the cult film Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead. For more info see: www.taraison.com. Contact: info@taraison.com, or follow her on Twitter @AlcatrazChild.Ison is the recipient of an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, a COLA Individual Artist Grant, multiple Yaddo fellowships, a Rotary Foundation Scholarship for International Study, a Brandeis National Women's Committee Award, a Thurber House Fiction Writer-in-Residence Fellowship, the Simon Blattner Fellowship from Northwestern University, and a California Arts Council Artists' Fellowship Award. Ison received her MFA in Fiction & Literature from Bennington College. She has taught Fiction and Screenwriting at Washington University in St. Louis, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Goddard College, Antioch University, UC Riverside's MFA Program in Creative Writing, and Bennington College. She is currently Assistant Professor of Fiction in Arizona State University's creative writing program.