JOHN VERCHER has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in creative writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program. He serves as an assistant teaching professor in the Department of English & Philosophy at Drexel University and was the inaugural Wilma Dykeman writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. His debut novel, Three-Fifths, named one of the best books of the year by the Chikago Tribin epi Lis liv, was nominated for the Edgar and Strand Magazine Critics’ Awards for Best First Novel. His second novel, After the Lights Go Out, was named a “Best Book of Summer 2022” by BookRiot epi Publishers Weekly, and a Lis liv Editor’s Choice “Best Book of 2022.”