Ann Harleman is the author of the short story collection Thoreau's Laundry and the novels The Year She Disappeared and Bitter Lake. Among her awards are Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships, three Rhode Island State Arts Council grants, the Berlin Prize in Literature, and the PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where she is on the faculties of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design.