Tom Bissell is a journalist, critic, and fiction writer, originally from Escanaba, Michigan and currently based in Los Angeles, California. He is the author of Chasing the Sea, God Lives in St. Petersburg, and The Father of All Things. A recipient of the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Bay de Noc Community College Alumnus of the Year Award, he teaches fiction writing at Portland State University and lives in Portland, Oregon.