Gayl Jones was born in Kentucky in 1949. She attended Connecticut College and Brown University, and has taught at Wellesley and the University of Michigan. Her books include Corregidora, Eva’s Man, Mosquito, and The Healing, the last a National Book Award finalist and New York Times Notable Book of the Year as well as Palmares, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and the recently published THE BIRDCATCHER, which was a finalist for the National Book Award.