Alden Jones is the author, most recently, of the The Wanting Was a Wilderness, a hybrid work of memoir and literary criticism. Her previous books are The Blind Masseuse, longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award, and Unaccompanied Minors, winner of the New American Fiction Prize. Her essays and short stories have appeared in The Best American Travel Writing, Agni, The Cut, The Rumpus, and Prairie Schooner. She teaches creative writing and cultural studies at Emerson College and is core faculty in the Newport MFA program.