Bret Lott

Bret Lott is the bestselling author of twelve books, most recently the novel Ancient Highway (Random House 2008); other books include the story collection The Difference Between Women and Men, the nonfiction book  Before We Get Started: A Practical Memoir of the Writer’s Life, and the novels Jewel, an Oprah Book Club pick,  and A Song I Knew by Heart. His work has appeared in, among other places, The Yale Review, The New York  Times, The Georgia Review, and in dozens of anthologies.

Born in Los Angeles, he received his BA in English from Cal State Long Beach in 1981, and his MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1984, where he studied under James Baldwin. From 1986 to 2004 he was writer-in-residence and professor of English at The College of Charleston, leaving to take the position of editor and director of the journal The Southern Review at Louisiana State University. Three years later, in the fall of 2007, he returned to The College of Charleston and the job he most loves: teaching.

His honors include having been named Fulbright Senior American Scholar and writer-in-residence to Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel; having spoken on Flannery O’Connor at The White House; and being appointed a member of the National Council on the Arts. He and his wife, Melanie, live in Hanahan, South Carolina.