Alice Elliott Dark is the author of two highly praised collections of short stories, In the Gloaming and Naked to the Waist. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker and Harper's and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Short Stories of the Century. Critics frequently praise her stories for their rich characterizations and psychological insight. The title story to In the Gloaming, which deals with a mother who welcomes her grown son home to watch him die of AIDS, was the basis of a made-for-cable TV movie starring Glenn Close. Dark teaches creative writing.