Madison Smartt Bell is the author of nine novels and two collections of short stories. Born and raised in Tennessee, he has lived in New York and in London and now lives in Baltimore, Maryland. A graduate of Princeton University and Hollins College, he has taught in various creative writing programs, including the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the 92nd Street Y and the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars. Since 1984 he has taught at the Goucher College Creative Program, where he is currently Professor of English, along with his wife, the poet Elizabeth Spires. Goucher College also appointed him as Director of the Kratz Center for Creative Writing. His novel Soldier's Joy received the Lillian Smith Award in 1989 and his eighth novel, All Soul's Rising, was the winner of the 1996 Anisfield-Wolf award. His most recent novel, The Stone That the Builder Refused, was published in November 2004.