Jonathan Penner is a master teacher of fiction writing workshops.  His past students include David Foster Wallace, Richard Russo, and many other writers with outstanding literary careers.  Holder of both the MFA and PhD degrees from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, Penner was himself the student of John Updike, Bernard Malamud, Kurt Vonnegut, Angus Wilson, Antony Burgess, and Richard Yates.

He is the author of the novels Going Blind and  Natural Order, the story collections Private Parties and This Is My Voice, and The Intelligent Traveler's Guide to Chiribosco, a novella.  His stories have been published in Harper's, Paris Review, and many other magazines.  His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The New Republic.