John Givens teaches fiction writing in Dublin at the Irish Writers Centre. He got his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, was a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Korea, studied art and language in Kyoto and worked in Tokyo as a writer and editor. Givens has published three novels in the US: Sons of the Pioneers, A Friend in the Police and Living Alone. The Plum Rains, a collection of short stories set in 17th-century Japan, was recently published in Ireland by The Liffey Press. Other stories have appeared in literary journals in the US, Asia and Europe. [Fiction]