John D’Agata is the author of Halls of Fame, About a Mountain, and The Lifespan of a Fact, as well as the editor of the 3-volume series A New History of the Essay, which includes the anthologies The Next American Essay, The Making of the American Essay, and The Lost Origins of the Essay. His work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Literature Fellowship, a Lannan Foundation Fellowship, and a grant from the Oberman Center for Advanced Studies. He holds a B.A. from Hobart College and two M.F.A.s from the University of Iowa.