Tim O'Brien is from small town Minnesota. Graduation in 1968 from Macalester College found him with a BA in Political Science and a draft notice. O'Brien was against the war, but reported for service and was sent to Vietnam. After Vietnam, he became a graduate student at Harvard. Having the opportunity to do an internship at the Washington Post, he eventually left Harvard to become a newspaper reporter. Tim O'Brien is now a visiting professor and endowed chair at Southwest Texas State University where he teaches in the Creative Writing Program. He is on the advisory board for The Ridenhour Prizes. 2016 FIU Writers on the Bay Award Recipient.