Born in Cleveland, OH, I grew up in beautiful Oakland and Berkeley, CA. I graduated from Yale in 2001 with a BA in History, and I was a Henry Hoyns fellow at the University of Virginia, where I received my MFA in Creative Writing in 2004. My writing has appeared in Playboy, Time Out New York, UVa Alumni Magazine, and Meridian. I've taught writing at the University of Virginia, American University, George Washington University, UVa Young Writer Workshop, and WriterHouse in Charlottesville, VA.

My first book, In the Land of Believers, just came out from Metropolitan Books. You can read about it if you click that little tab thing at the top of the page, and my Work page has lots of interviews and reviews for you if you like to do your research before committing to a book.

I also write personal essays and short stories. I do amateur interior decorating and make paintings from photographs; I cook but rarely bake; I speak a little Italian and play a little piano, and I have this hoard of yard-sale Berlitz cassette tapes I've been trying to learn French with for years. Ex-volleyball player, ex-Californian, ex-aspiring mathematician; wistful on all counts.

My next book project is based on letters my grandfather wrote to my grandmother during World War II. More on that soon.

I currently teach Creative Writing at George Washington University and write from a basement on Capitol Hill, which is hardly as scary as it sounds.