Ron Cooper is a native of South Carolina who has lived in Florida since 1988. He holds a BA from the College of Charleston, an MA from the University of South Carolina, and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University. The Washington Post called his novel Purple Jesus(Bancroft Press, 2010) was "a literary event of the first magnitude" and said that it is "so perefectly written, it is exhilarating to read." His previous novel Hume's Fork was described by Ron Rash as "one of the funniest novels I've read in a long time . . . a very impressive debut." Rebecca Goldstein called it a "mix of zaniness and erudition, satire and insight . . . as delicious as it is original."