Peter Orner is the author of the novels "The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo" and "Love and Shame and Love" and the story collections "Esther Stories," "Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge," and "Maggie Brown & Others." His previous collection of essays, "Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live," was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.
His new essay collection is "Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin."