Mark Childress was born in 1957 in Monroeville, Alabama and grew up in Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. After graduation from the University of Alabama in 1978, Childress was a reporter for The Birmingham News, Features Editor of Southern Living magazine, and Regional Editor of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Childress is the author of six novels: "A World Made of Fire" (Knopf, 1984), "V For Victor" (Knopf, 1988) "Tender" (Harmony, 1990), "Crazy in Alabama" (Putnam, 1993), and "Gone for Good," (Knopf, 1988) and "One Mississippi," published in July 2006 by Little, Brown & Co. His articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Times of London, San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday Review, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Travel and Leisure, and other national and international publications. Childress wrote the screenplay of the Columbia Pictures film "Crazy in Alabama," an official selection of the Venice and San Sebastian film festivals. He lives all over the place, currently in New York City.