John D’Agata reads with Roxane Gay at the 2013 Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City. D’Agata is the author of the books Halls of Fame, About a Mountain and The Lifespan of a Fact. He is the editor of The Next American Essay, The Lost American Essay, and the forthcoming The Making of the American Essay.

He teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program at The University of Iowa. When Halls of Fame was published, David Foster Wallace called John D’Agata “one of the most significant U.S. writers to emerge in the past few years.” Reviewing About a Mountain in the New York Times Book Review, Charles Bock called the book “unquestionably art, a breathtaking piece of writing.”