Joseph Cassara is an assistant professor in the creative writing program at the California State University, Fresno. He is the author of the novel The House of Impossible Beauties, which received the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, two International Latino Book Awards, the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Fiction Book, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction. He holds degrees from Columbia University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Fine Arts Work Center, and The Studios of Key West. He is currently working on another novel and a collection of essays.