David Crouse is a short story writer and teacher. Crouse's work explores issues of identity and alienation, and his stories are populated with characters living on the fringes of American society. The Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction was awarded to him in 2005 for his first collection of short stories, Copy Cats. Published in 2008, his most recent collection of stories, The Man Back There, was awarded the Mary McCarthy Prize.