Poet and novelist Shann Ray's work has appeared in Poetry, Esquire, McSweeney’s, Poetry International, Narrative, Montana Quarterly, and Salon. He grew up fishing the waterways of Montana and Alaska, and spent part of his childhood on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in southeast Montana. Honors include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the High Plains Book Award, and the American Book Award. He lives with his wife and three daughters in Spokane, Washington and teaches leadership and forgiveness studies at Gonzaga University. He is the author of Sweetclover, Blood Fire Vapor Smoke, American Masculine, American Copper, Balefire, Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity, Atomic Theory 7, the libretto The Garment of Praise, and a novel in progress, Where Blackbirds Fly.