Michael Martone, 1955- , is an author of several novels, collections of essays, and pieces of short fiction. He was born on August 22, 1955 and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was a student at Butler University and graduated from Indiana University. He also earned a M.A. degree from The Writing Seminars of John Hopkins University. Much of his work has focused on life and culture in the Midwest. From 1996 to 2020, Martone was a professor in the Creative Writing program at the University of Alabama. He has also held teaching appointments at Iowa State University, Harvard University, and Syracuse University. Martone is now retired and lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with his wife, poet Theresa Pappas.