John Vernon is the author of eleven books, including six novels, a memoir, a book of poems, and several books of criticism. Two of his books have been named New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and he has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. He was born and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and now lives in the mountains of northern Colorado, where he is affiliated with the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado. Each year he is in residence at Binghamton University in upstate New York for the spring semester, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate fiction workshops. His novels are often but not exclusively set in the historical American west. He believes that the novel is an art form designed to both entertain and discomfort readers, and that its ultimate goal is to undermine our complacency while bringing us news of the world.

Lucky Billy (Houghton Mifflin, 2009), La Salle (Bison Books, 2006), The Last Canyon (Mariner Books, 2002), The Last Canyon (Houghton Mifflin, 2001), A Book of Reasons (Houghton Mifflin, 1999), All for Love (Simon & Schuster, 1995), Peter Doyle (Random House, 1991), Lindbergh's Son (Viking, 1987)

The Book of Love (W.W. Norton & Company, 1998)

American Poetry Review, Harper's, Paris Review, Poetry