Ryan Ruff Smith has published fiction and literary nonfiction in journals such as Ploughshares, Subtropics, Green Mountains Review, and New Ohio Review, and one of his short stories was listed as one of the "Other Distinguished Stories" in Best American Short Stories 2017. His theater and literary criticism have appeared in The Threepenny Review and The Miami Rail. Originally from Minneapolis, he holds an MFA from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Cincinnati.