Jess Walter is a tomato-growing, Wilco-listening, family-loving, award-winning author of five books who wishes for world peace. Unlike his character Matthew Prior who wears loafers that resemble slippers, Jess is a fan of basketball shoes called Hyperdunks that he says are “a criminal exaggeration of their powers” . A dream vacation for Jess would include a great book, a bottle of wine and about four years in Florence, and if stuck on a desert-island he would choose to read One Hundred Years of Solitude or Building a Raft for Dummies. Jess is currently working on a new book and lives in Spokane, Washington with his family.