Eric Shonkwiler

Eric Shonkwiler is an award-winning author, security professional and creator of the long-running preparedness newsletter When/If. He is the author of the novels Above All Men and 8th Street Power & Light, and the story collection Moon Up, Past Full, which earned the Coil Book Award and a Midwest Connections’ Pick. After serving as a 911 dispatcher and earning his MFA from UC Riverside, he spent years as a Director of Security and Emergency Preparedness officer in Columbus, Ohio, guiding public health and hospital facilities through the COVID-19 pandemic and large-scale mass-casualty exercises. His work and commentary on emergency preparedness has been featured in The Guardian and CNN.