Before turning to fiction, Lisa Heiserman Perkins earned a PhD (University of Chicago) in 19th century British literature, taught at Tufts, Harvard, and Emerson, and then left academia to make documentary films. She was the associate producer of Loaded Gun: Life, and Death, and Dickinson—and is the writer, director, producer of Secret Intelligence: Decoding Hedy Lamarr (on hold since the recession). Her stories have appeared in Painted Bride Quarterly, Quiddity, Fourth River and elsewhere. She was a Pushcart nominee in 2011, winner of the 2012 New Millennium Fiction Prize and the 2012 Meringoff Fiction Award. She lives in Somerville, MA. “Urchin” is the first chapter of her novel-in-progress.