Jane Smiley is the author of thirty-three works of fiction and nonfiction. She has won several awards, including a Pulitzer Prize. She was born in St. Louis, Mo., lived for twenty-five years in Iowa, then moved to California. She is best known for A Thousand Acres, Perestroika in Paris, Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel, Moo, and The Last Hundred Years Trilogy. Her most recent published novel is Lucky which was released in April of 2024. Her most controversial article was "Say It Ain't So, Huck," comparing Uncle Tom's Cabin to Huckleberry Finn, published in 1996 in Harper's Magazine. She also wrote a book about the invention of the computer. She is an avid horse rider and hiker. She lives in California.