Lara Vapnyar came to the US from Russia in 1994. She is the author of the acclaimed novels, Memoirs of a Muse, The Scent of Pine, Still Here, and Divide Me By Zero, as well as two collections of short stories, There Are Jews in My House and Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love. She is a recipient of the Guggenheim fellowship, and Goldberg Prize for Jewish fiction. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper’s, and The New Republic.