John McNally

John McNally’s most recent novel is the thriller The Pinned Butterfly, written under the pen name Johnny Mack. He is the author of three novels: After the Workshop, America's Report Card, and The Book of Ralph (now available in a deluxe 20th anniversary edition); and three story collections: The Fear of Everything, Ghosts of Chicago, and Troublemakers. His first memoir was published in 2017: The Boy Who Really, Really Wanted to Have Sex: The Memoir of a Fat Kid. He adapted his novel The Book of Ralph into the YA novel, Lord of the Ralphs. He is also author of The Promise of Failure: One Writer's Perspective on Not Succeeding (2018); Vivid and Continuous: Essays and Exercises for Writing Fiction (2013); and The Creative Writer's Survival Guide: Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist (2010). He has edited six anthologies, including Who Can Save Us Now: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories (co-edited with Owen King). John's short stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in over a hundred magazines, newspapers, and anthologies, including Virginia Quarterly Review, One Teen Story, The South Carolina Review, Washington Post, The Sun, Open City, Chicago Tribune, New Sudden Fiction (Norton), and Long Story Short (University of North Carolina Press). His work has appeared in the textbooks Winding Roads: Exercises in Writing Creative Nonfiction and Behind the Short Story: From First Draft to Final Draft, both published by Longman. John has been the recipient of numerous awards for his writing, including a Chesterfield Writer's Film Project for screenwriting (sponsored by Paramount Pictures), the Jenny McKean Moore fellowship for fiction (sponsored by George Washington University), and the Carl Djerassi fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin. His short stories have been cited three times as an outstanding story of the year in the Best American Short Stories series (1991, 2007, and 2008). John has taught creative writing at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Western State College of Colorado, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of South Florida at Tampa, George Washington University, Columbia College Chicago, and Wake Forest University. He has given over a hundred readings all across the country, from New York City to Honolulu, from Bellingham, Washington, to Sanibel Island, Florida. A native of Chicago's southwest side, he is at present Writer in Residence and Professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.