Valerie Laken

Valerie Laken has an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in Slavic Literature from the University of Michigan. Her work has been published in such journals as Ploughshares, Antioch Review, the Chicago Tribune, and Alaska Quarterly Review. She has received a Pushcart Prize, the Missouri Review Editors' Prize, two Hopwood Awards, and an honorable mention in the Best American Short Stories. She teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Her first novel, Dream House (Harper, 2009), received the Anne Powers award and was listed among Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2009. Her short story collection, Separate Kingdoms, will be published March 29, 2011 by Harper Perennial.