Minnesota writer and teacher Bill Meissner is the author of eleven books, including four books of short stories and five books of poems. His first novel, Spirits in the Grass, was awarded the Midwest Book Award. He has won numerous awards for his writing, including an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, a Loft-McKnight Fellowship for Poetry, and a Loft-McKnight Award of Distinction in Fiction. For over a decade, Meissner taught a university course based on the culture, literature, and music of the late 1960s. Bill's interests include rock music, photography, baseball, pulp fiction magazines, American culture, vintage typewriters, and travel--especially to tropical/beach locations such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He lives in Minnesota with his wife, Chris.