Born in Dinuba, California, Manuel Muñoz is a gay Chicano writer whose work often reflects a creative intersection of literature and film. Muñoz has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant. His latest book is The Consequences, a collection of short stories about which Oprah Daily observed, “Gay, straight, American-born or American-dreaming, the characters in this collection exist on the verge of oblivion, but the book out-Steinbecks Steinbeck in its manifestation of the human in places we too rarely dare look.” He is currently a professor of English at the University of Arizona.