JONATHAN LETHEM is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including Dissident GardensThe Fortress of Solitude, and Motherless Brooklyn; three short story collections; and two essay collections, including The Ecstasy of Influence, which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Lethem's work has appeared in The New YorkerHarper's MagazineRolling StoneEsquireand The New York Times, among other publications.