Mark Childress is the author of five novels and three children's books as well as many journalistic pieces. All of his novels have a distinctively Southern flair that reflects Childress's Alabama roots. Since the appearance of his first novel, A World Made of Fire, in 1984, Childress has grown in both popularity and importance as a Southern author.

Born in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, on 21 September 1957, Mark Gillion Childress absorbed the rich literary history surrounding him. His father, Roy Childress, was a sales manager for Ralston-Purina; his mother, Mary Helen Gillion Childress, was a homemaker. Childress has two brothers. His parents encouraged him to read from an early age, and the influences of his favorite books have remained visible throughout his literary career. Though his family moved from Alabama to Ohio and later to Indiana when he was still quite young, he returned to the place of...