Ben Shattuck, a former Teaching-Writing Fellow and graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, is a recipient of the PEN America Short Story Prize and a 2019 Pushcart Prize. Shattuck's first book, Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau (Tin House, 2022) was a New Yorker magazine Best Book of 2022, a Wall Street Journal Best Book of Spring, a New York Times Best Book of Summer, a New England Indie Bestseller, and a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award. His  second book, The History of Sound: Stories, was published by Viking in 2024, and was a Chicago Tribune 10 Best Books of 2024, a Kirkus Reviews Best Short Fiction, and was longlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. He lives with his wife and daughter on the coast of Massachusetts, where he owns and runs the oldest general store in America, built in 1793. He is also the founder and director of the Cuttyhunk Island Writers' Residency.