Cary Holladay is the author of a novel Mercury (Random House, 2002) and two collections of short stories, The Palace of Wasted Footsteps: Stories (University of Missouri Press, 1998) and The People Down South (University of Illinois Press, 1989). Her awards include an O. Henry Prize. “The Interview” will appear in her forthcoming collection, The Quick Change Artist, to be published by Ohio UP/ Swallow Press in 2006. Her new work appears in New Stories From the South: The Year’s Best 2005, as well as recent issues of Gulf Coast, Five Points, New Letters, Shenandoah, and The Southern Review. A native of Virginia, Cary is married to the poet and fiction writer John Bensko. They teach in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Memphis.