Alan Ziegler is professor of writing and director of pedagogy at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he was chair of the Writing Program from 2001 to 2006 and won the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching. His books include The Swan Song of Vaudeville, The Green Grass of Flatbush, So Much to Do, The Writing Workshop, volumes 1 and 2, and The Writing Workshop Note Book. Ziegler is at work on Based on a True Life: A Memoir in Pieces and lives in New York City with his wife, Erin Langston.