Ron Hansen is a graduate of Creighton University, the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop, and Stanford University, where he was a Wallace Stegner Creative Writing Fellow. He is the author of nine books of fiction, including the novels MARIETTE IN ECSTASY, ATTICUS, and A WILD SURGE OF GUILTY PASSION, which will be published by Scribner next summer. His second novel THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD was adapted for a 2007 film starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.

He is the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Santa Clara University.