Robert Hellenga has published a dozen short stories in various literary magazines. His first novel, The Sixteen Pleasures (Soho Press, 1994), which became a national bestseller after being rejected 39 times, has recently been issued as an audio book (Blackstone Audio, Inc., 2013). His most recent novel, Snakewoman of Little Egypt (Bloomsbury USA, 2010) was named one of the best novels of 2010 by both the Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews. His seventh novel, The Confessions of Frances Godwin, will be published by Bloomsbury in summer 2014.