Robert Henningsen grew up on a small family farm near Grundy Center, Iowa. After receiving a B.A from the University of Northern Iowa, he taught high school English for six years at Mason City, Iowa. In 1978 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, to attend The Writers’ Program at Washington University from where he received an M.F.A. in 1981. That fall he began teaching at John Burroughs School in St. Louis where he remained for thirty-two years. An avid hiker, Bob has backpacked extensively throughout the United States and Western Europe, though his favorite trails are found in Missouri’s Eastern Ozarks. Now retired, Bob lives in St. Louis with his wife Jann and their cats.