Elizabeth Stuckey-French is the author of the novel Mermaids on the Moon, as well as a collection of short stories, The First Paper Girl in Red Oak, Iowa. She is also a co-author of Writing Fiction, the most widely used creative writing text in America. Her stories have appeared in many literary journals as well as in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2005. She has won grants from the Howard Foundation, the Indiana Arts Foundation, and the Florida Arts Foundation. Stuckey-French teaches fiction writing at Florida State University.