Brad Watson teaches creative writing at the University of Wyoming, Laramie. His first collection, Last Days of the Dog-Men, won the Sue Kaufman Award for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; his first novel, The Heaven of Mercury, was shortlisted for the National Book Award in 2002, and his second story collection Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives was shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. His book Miss Jane is based on his own Great Aunt, Miss Jane Chisolm.
