Jon Volkmer’s books include Roberto Clemente: The Story of a Hero (young adult biography); The Art of Country Grain Elevators, a collection of poems about grain elevators, and the travel memoir Eating Europe: A Meta-Nonfiction Love Story. His fiction, poems and essays have appeared widely magazines, newspapers and literary journals, including Commonweal, Parnassus, The Cimarron Review, The Southern Indiana Review, The Prairie Schooner, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Jon earned a BA from the University of Colorado, and an MA in creative writing from Denver University, where he worked with National Book Award Winner  John Williams, author of Stoner. He returned to his home state to earn his PhD in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jon founded the creative writing program at Ursinus College, and has served as its director for more than thirty years. His students have gone on to MFAs at many writing programs, including Cornell, UVA, and Michigan.