Jeffery Renard AllenJeffery Renard Allen is the author of five books including the novels SONG OF THE SHANK and RAILS UNDER MY BACK, which won the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize for Fiction; the short story collection HOLDING PATTERN, which received The Ernest J. Gaies Award for Literary Excellence; and two collections of poetry. Allen is the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, a grant in Innovative Literature from the Creative Capital Foundation, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Read More Read Less