Vince Granata is a nonfiction writer living in Washington, D.C where he teaches composition at American University. Most of his writing concerns mental health care and his family’s experience of serious mental illness. Vince decided to be a writer in the third grade after his fear of rollercoasters ruled out becoming an astronaut and an ornery petting zoo llama ruined his interest in zoology. Most of his early work resembled the Choose Your Own Adventure novels he devoured as a child. His recent essays have appeared or are forthcoming in The Massachusetts Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Passager, and Fourth Genre. His essay, “First Visit” won The Chattahoochee Review’s 2017 Lamar York Prize in nonfiction and was listed as “notable” in Best American Essays 2018.