Nickolas Butler was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. His award-winning debut novel, Shotgun Lovesongs, was an international bestseller and has been optioned for film by Fox Searchlight Pictures and his acclaimed second novel, Hearts of Men, was a finalist for the 2016 Prix Médicis Etrangere. Butler graduated from the University of Wisconsin before attending the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and currently lives in Wisconsin with his wife and their two children.
