She earned her PhD in twentieth-century Southern literature at the University of South Carolina in 2012. Her research interests include Southern regionalism, gender studies, and race and reproduction, and she has published articles in Southern Literary Journal and Modern Fiction Studies. John Milliken Thompson’s essays and short stories have been published in a variety of periodicals, including the Smithsonian, the Washington Post, Louisiana Literature, and South Dakota Review. Born in Chatham County, NC, Thompson holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Arkansas and currently lives in Virginia.