Miriam Karmel is author of the novel Being Esther (Milkweed Editions, 2013). She is the recipient of Minnesota Monthly’s Tamarack Award for her short story, "The Queen of Love." She has received numerous other prizes for short fiction, including the Waasnode Short Fiction Prize, the Kate Braverman Short Story Prize, Moment Magazine/Karma Foundation Short Fiction Prize, and the Arthur Edelstein Prize for Short Fiction. Her stories have appeared in numerous literary journals and magazines, including the Alaska Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, and Jabberwock. Subtle Variations and Other Stories is the recipient of the inaugural "First Fiction" Prize from Holy Cow! Press. She lives in Minneapolis.