Shawn Vestal is the author of the novel Daredevils (2016) as well as Godforsaken Idaho, a collection of short stories that was named the winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, which honors a debut book that "represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise." Godforsaken Idaho was also longlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing and was named an outstanding collection by The Story Prize. Vestal also published A.K.A. Charles Abbott, a nonfiction Kindle single in which he sorts through his father's criminal history, detangling facts and memories from his childhood. His stories have appeared in Tin House, McSweeney's, Ecotone, The Southern Review, Cutbank, Sou'wester, Florida Review, and other journals. He writes for the Spokesman Review and teaches in the MFA program at Eastern Washington University.