Rod Val Moore was born in Utah but has spent most of his life in California, earning degrees in English, and a masters degree in linguistics. He has published short stories in a variety of journals. In 1994 he won the Iowa Fiction Award for his story collection Igloo Among Palms. In 2013 his novel A History of Hands won the Juniper Prize for Fiction. He teaches English, linguistics, and creative writing at Los Angeles Valley College, and lives in L.A. with his wife, the artist Lisa Bloomfield.