John McNally is the author of three novels, After the Workshop, America's Report Card, and The Book of Ralph; and two story collections, Ghosts of Chicago and Troublemakers. His first memoir was published in 2017: The Boy Who Really, Really Wanted to Have Sex: The Memoir of a Fat Kid. He adapted his novel The Book of Ralph into the YA novel, Lord of the Ralphs. He is also author The Promise of Failure: One Writer's Perspective on Not Succeeding; Vivid and Continuous: Essays and Exercises for Writing Fiction; and The Creative Writer's Survival Guide: Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist. A native of Chicago's southwest side, he is at present Writer in Residence and Professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is also a member of the core faculty in the low-residency MFA program at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. He divides his time between Louisiana and North Carolina.
