Denise Grollmus is a writer whose work has appeared in the 2006 Best American Crime Writing anthology, Wax Poetics, Spin Magazine, The Akron Beacon Journal, The Cleveland Free Times, The Cleveland Scene, True Crime Report and other Village Voice Media papers. Born in Los Angeles, California, Denise was flung far from the West Coast to Akron, Ohio in 1992, where she learned to love Devo. Really Love DEVO. And pierogies. In 2003, she graduated from Oberlin College (where she wrote her honors thesis on, ehem, Devo). Before being hired by the VVM Empire in 2004, Denise attended the Academy for Alternative Journalism at Medill, where she stopped writing about Devo and started writing literary journalism about drunk Amish girls, mercenary boxers, bad politicians, and true crime. Now—when Denise isn’t too busy eating Ritter Sport, tweeting Belle and Sebastian lyrics, or reading Saul Bellows—she is working on her MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Pennsylvania State University, where she also indoctrinates the youth of the Midwest (and beyond) with her writing philosophy: namely supplementary readings from Gay Talese and Ann Lamott’s Bird by Bird. Denise is also the co-author of The Ohio Knitting Mills Knitting Book on Artisan/Workman Publishing. It’s not just a book for knitters, but anyone who can appreciate American cultural history, fashion, Mid-Century Modern design, and industrial history. It’s a colorful yarn through the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s!