Nicole VanderLinden lives in Iowa City, Iowa, and earned her MFA in fiction from Colorado State University. Her fiction and book reviews appear in various publications. As a graduate student, she was the recipient of an AWP Intro Journals Award, and in 2020, Lauren Groff selected her story as the winner of the New Ohio Review Fiction Prize. In addition to writing, Nicole serves as a reader for Ploughshares, has worked as an editor and instructor, and has volunteered time as a crisis-intervention specialist. She recently completed a short story collection (Sorry, Thank You, Hello) and is finishing her first novel.