Askold Melnyczuk is the founding editor of Agni. His stories, poems, and reviews have appeared in the Antioch Review, the Boston Globe, the Gettysburg Review, the Partisan Review, the New York Times, and the Nation, among others. His first novel, What Is Told, was named a Notable Book of the Year for 1994 by the New York Times; his novel Ambassador of the Dead was one of the Los Angeles Times' Best Books of 2002. His most recent novel, The House of Widows, was named an Editor's Choice Selection of 2008 by Booklist. He has received a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award and a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for Fiction. He has taught at Harvard University, Emerson College and Boston University. He currently teaches at the University of Massachusetts and in Graduate Writing Seminars at Bennington. Melnyczuk is the publisher of Arrowsmith Books.