Jill Ciment was born in Montreal, Canada. She is the author of the novels Act of God, The Tattoo Artist, Teeth of the Dog, and The Law of Falling Bodies; a collection of stories, Small Claims; and a memoir, Half a Life. She has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts, a NEA Japan Fellowship Prize, two New York State Fellowships for the Arts, the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Ciment is a professor at the University of Florida. She lives in Gainesville, Florida.