Melissa Bank

Bank was born in Boston, on October 11, 1960. Her father, Arnold, was a neurologist who died during his late fifties of leukemia, a condition he concealed for almost ten years; her mother, Joan (Levine), worked as a teacher. She then worked in publishing in New York City, and obtained a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Cornell University in 1987. ==Career==

Bank published short stories and nonfiction in such publications as the Chicago Tribune, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Seventeen, as well as being broadcast on National Public Radio and the BBC. She identified Janet Malcolm as her favorite non-fiction writer. She also taught in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton. ''The Girls' Guide to Hunting And Fishing'' Bank began writing ''The Girls' Guide to Hunting And Fishing shortly after graduating from Cornell. It ultimately took her twelve years to complete. Newsweek'' critic Yahlin Chang wrote, "Bank draws exquisite portraits of loneliness, and she can do it in a sentence." Later works Bank published her second novel, The Wonder Spot, in 2005. It took her five years to write the book, which did not fare as well as ''The Girls' Guide'' in terms of sales but was regarded by critics as the superior of the two works. She was writing a third book for Viking Press at the time of her death. ==Personal life==

Bank was in a domestic partnership with Todd Dimston in the 18 years prior to her death. She did not have children. ==Publications==

• The Wonder Spot (2005) • The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine (short story) – 1999 • ''The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing'' (1999) ==References==