Karen Russell was born in Florida in 1981. She is the author of three books of short stories – including Vampires and Lemons (Tusquets, 2013) – and two novels, Tierra de caimanes (Tusquets, 2011), a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Donantes de sueño (2014). She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Genius Grant, and her work has been recognized by the National Book Foundation. She has also received the NYPL Young Lions Award, the Bard Fiction Prize, and the Shirley Jackson Award.