Clarence Major is a painter, novelist, and prize-winning poet whose first collection, Swallow the Lake, won the National Council on the Arts Award. His nine novels include Dirty Bird Blues and Painted Turtle: Woman with Guitar, a New York Times Notable Book in 1988. A judge for the National Book Awards, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Major has lived, lectured, and read in various parts of the United States, Europe, and Africa. He is a professor at the University of California, Davis.