Valerie Fioravanti is the author of Garbage Night at the Opera, winner of the 2011 Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction from BkMk Press of the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Garbage Night at the Opera received the IPPY Bronze Medal in Short Fiction, was a finalist for Late Night Library‘s Debut-litzer Prize in Fiction, and was long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Story Prize. Valerie’s short stories have appeared in North American Review, Cimarron Review, Hunger Mountain, Night Train, and others. These stories have received four Pushcart Prize nominations and Special Mention in Pushcart Prize XXVIII. She is finishing her second story collection, Bridge & Tunnel, a series of stories focused on Queens and the home/work life challenge. Valerie received a Fulbright Fellowship in Creative Writing to work on a novel set in Italy, Bel Casino, which continues the story of Franca and Lina from Garbage Night at the Opera.