Chris Tusa was born and raised in New Orleans. He holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Florida. His debut novel, Dirty Little Angels, was published by The University of West Alabama in March of 2009. His debut collection of poems, Haunted Bones, was published by Louisiana Literature Press in 2006. His work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Connecticut Review, New South, Texas Review, The Southeast Review, New Delta Review, South Dakota Review, Passages North, StorySouth, and others. His second novel, In the City of Falling Stars, which was recently awarded First Runner-Up for the Faulkner Wisdom Novel-in-Progress Award, will be released by the University of West Alabama in 2015. Aside from acting as Managing Editor of Fiction Southeast, Tusa divides his time between teaching full-time in the English Department at LSU and acting as Writer-in-Residence at Southeastern Louisiana University.