Derek Nikitas

Derek Nikitas is the author of two thriller novels, Pyres and The Long Division. His debut novel Pyres (St. Martin's Minotaur) was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and The Long Division was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. His short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Thuglit, The Ontario Review, Chelsea, Plots with Guns, New South, and more. He has written stories for the Killer Year: Stories to Die For anthology (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008) and for the zombie anthology, The New Dead (Griffin Books, Feb 2010). Derek was raised in New Hampshire and Western New York. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and PhD in English from Georgia State University. He teaches creative writing at the University of Rhode Island. His first novel for Young Adults, Extra Life, will be released in the Fall of 2015 by Polis Books.