Dean Monti started writing at age two, but nothing really legible until age five. Since then his work has appeared in several literary journals including Prairie Light Review, ELF: The Eclectic Literary Forum, and Ellipsis. His critically-acclaimed novel, The Sweep of the Second Hand, was published by Academy Chicago Publishers and reprinted in paperback by Penguin Putnam Berkley Signature. He is the author of several full-length and one-act plays and has had works staged in Chicago and Norfolk, Va. He has also taught creative writing at Columbia College and College of DuPage. He is currently working on new novels and short stories and recently completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Queens University. He lives in a suburb of Chicago.