Joanne Leedom-Ackerman is a novelist, short story writer, and journalist whose works of fiction include The Dark Path to the River and No Marble Angels. Her recent nonfiction book, PEN Journeys: Memoir of Literature on the Line, drew inspiration from her job as a vice president of the worldwide writers and human rights organization PEN International. She is also on the boards of the American Writers Museum, the International Center for Journalists, Words Without Borders, and Refugees International. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Texas Institute of Letters. Burning Distance is her latest novel.