Will Allison was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and now lives with his family outside New York in South Orange, New Jersey. A contributing editor at the literary magazine One Story, he previously worked as executive editor of Story and editor-at-large of Zoetrope: All-Story. He has taught creative writing at Columbia University, The Ohio State University, Butler University, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, and at the One Story Workshop for Writers in Brooklyn. He has also served on the staff of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. He received a BA in English and political science from Case Western Reserve University and an MA in English and an MFA in creative writing from Ohio State. He is the grateful recipient of grants, fellowships, and scholarships from the Indiana Arts Commission, Arts Council of Indianapolis, Ohio Arts Council, and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference (including a 1996 work-study scholarship and the 2008 Allan Collins Fellowship in Fiction). His first novel, What You Have Left, was published in 2007 by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Paperback and audio editions were published in 2008, and a paperback reissue came out in April 2011. His second novel, the New York Times bestseller Long Drive Home, was published by Free Press in May 2011 (hardcover) and February 2012 (paperback).