Joe Benevento received a B.A. degree from NYU in English and Spanish (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), an M.A. in English from Ohio State and a Ph.D. in English from Michigan State. Benevento is Professor of English at Truman State U, where he teaches creative writing, American literature, and Mystery. He is the longtime, co-editor of the Green Hills Literary Lantern.

Benevento’s poems, stories, essays and reviews have appeared in about 300 places, including: Poets & Writers, The Chattahoochee Review, Pearl, Wisconsin Review, Inkwell, South Dakota Review, RE: Arts & Letter and Bilingual Review.  His work has three times been nominated for Pushcart Prizes.  In 1991 he was featured in a special issue of The MacGuffin, “New Decade, New Writers.

Benevento’s previous books include two novels, two full length poetry volumes, two poetry chapbooks, and a book of short stories. They are, Holding On (Warthog Press, 1996); Willing To Believe, (Timberline Press, 2003); The Odd Squad, (Behler Publications, 2005), a finalist for the 2006 John Gardner Fiction Book Award; My Puerto Rican Past, (Ginninderra Press, 2006); Some of My Best Friends and Other Fictions, (Lewis-Clark Press, 2008); “Tough Guys Don’t Write,” (Finishing Line Press, 2011); and The Monsignor’s Wife, (Moonshine Cove Publishing, 2013).