Born in 1982, Stefan Merrill Block grew up in Texas. His first novel, The Story of Forgetting, won Best First Fiction at the Rome International Festival of Literature, the 2008 Merck Serono Literature Prize and the 2009 Fiction Award from The Writers? League of Texas. The Story of Forgetting was also a finalist for the debut fiction awards from Indie Bound, Salon du Livre and The Center for Fiction. The Storm at the Door is his second novel. He lives in Brooklyn.