Jeffery Renard Allen is an Essayist, Novelist, Poet, Short Story Writer, and an Editor. Also, he is a Professor in the Creative Writing program at the University of Virginia. Jeffery Renard Allen is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow and was a resident at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Bellagio, Italy. Recently, Jeffery has also taught for the Iowa Summer Writers’ Festival, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Portugal.