William Kittredge taught Creative Writing at the University of Montana for 29 years and retired as Regents Professor of English and Creative Writing. Kittredge was co-editor of The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology (1988). In April 2007, he was honored with the Robert Kirsch Award, a lifetime achievement prize given once a year to a living Western author. Famous for non-fiction and essays, he published his first novel, The Willow Field (2006), at the age of 74. He lives in Missoula, Montana.