Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Michael Downs is the author of three books, including the novel, THE STRANGE AND TRUE TALE OF HORACE WELLS, SURGEON DENTIST (Acre Books, May 2018). His first book, HOUSE OF GOOD HOPE: A PROMISE FOR A BROKEN CITY, won the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize. THE GREATEST SHOW (LSU Press, 2012), his second book, is a story collection inspired by the famous Hartford Circus Fire of 1944. With Jim Hock, he wrote HOLLYWOOD'S TEAM: GRIT, GLAMOUR and the 1950s LOS ANGELES RAMS (Rare Bird Books, 2016). He served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Kraków, Poland in 2021-22. His other awards include literary fiction fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maryland State Arts Council, and he has published stories in the Best American Mystery Stories series (2001, 2002). A one-time newspaper reporter, he teaches creative writing at Towson University in Maryland and lives in Baltimore.