Joshua Isard is currently the director of the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing. He grew up in the Philadelphia area, earned his BA in English at Temple University, and then went on to study creative writing at the University of Edinburgh and literature at University College London. His short stories have appeared in The Broadkill Review, Pithead Chapel, Northwind, and Storychord, and his first novel, Conquistador of the Useless, was published by Cinco Puntos Press in 2013. He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife, children, and two cats.