Woodlief Thomas is from Little Rock, Arkansas. He taught in public schools over a decade and a half, predominantly high school English in New Orleans, LA. He's now working on his second novel, Locusts, after a few years driving a long-haul tractor-trailer. In addition to Little Rock and New Orleans, he has lived in Mississippi, Mexico, and New York City. He was educated at Hendrix College, Columbia University, and the University of New Orleans, where he received an MFA in Fiction Writing. His work has appeared in Oxford American, The Progressive, Armchair/Shotgun, In These Times, Nowhere, and Newfound. Just Off Elysian Fields is his first novel.