Jim Shepard has written eight novels—including The Book of Aron (Knopf, 2015), which won the Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish Literature, the PEN/New England Award for Fiction, and the Clark Fiction Prize—and five story collections, including Like You’d Understand, Anyway (Knopf, 2007), a finalist for the National Book Award and Story Prize winner. Seven of his stories were chosen for the Best American Short Stories, two for the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, and two for Pushcart Prizes. He teaches at Williams College.