Askold Melnyczuk

Askold Melnyczuk’s first novel, What Is Told, was a New York Times Notable Book. Seamus Heaney described it as “A great novel of unresentful sorrow and half-requited loss.” His second, The Ambassador of the Dead, was selected as one of the Best Books of the Year by the LA Times. The House of Widows was chosen by the American Libraries Association’s Booklist as an Editor’s Choice. He recently published his fourth novel, Smedley’s Secret Guide to World Literature. He is founding editor of Agni and Arrowsmith Press. He has taught at the Bennington Writing Seminars, Boston University and Harvard and is currently director of the Masters in Fine Arts Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston.