Alice McDermott is Johns Hopkins University's Writer-in-Residence. McDermott is the author of:

• The Bigamist's Daughter
• That Night, a finalist for the National Book Award, the Pen/Faulkner Award, and the Pulitzer Prize
• At Weddings and Wakes, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
• Charming Billy, the winner of the 1998 National Book Award.
• Child of My Heart : A Novel

As well as articles published in both the New York Times and the Washington Post.

She was a recipient of the Whiting Writers Award in 1987.