Susan Lohafer grew up in New Jersey. She is a graduate of Harvard (B.A.), Stanford (M.A.), and New York University (Ph.D.). During her teaching career at the University of Iowa, she specialized in short fiction theory. This love of the short story form and classic American tales inspired her to write THE BELLE OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. Her interests in creative writing and nineteenth-century history came together in her debut novel, THE RELUCTANT PATRIOT-a fictional retelling of a true story about the American Civil War in Tennessee. Her academic books include COMING TO TERMS WITH THE SHORT STORY and READING FOR STORYNESS: PRECLOSURE THEORY, EMPIRICAL POETICS, AND CULTURE IN THE SHORT STORY, as well as the co-edited volume SHORT STORY THEORY AT A CROSSROADS. Shorter works include a personal essay listed as a Notable Essay of 2011 in THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2012, and short stories in venues like THE SOUTHERN REVIEW and THE ANTIOCH REVIEW. Susan currently lives with her husband in Tennessee.
