Nickolas Butler is an accomplished American author of literary fiction novels. He was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, but spent most of his childhood in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. After completing high school, Butler attended Chicago’s DePaul University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. His writing has been featured in various publications, including Ploughshares, The Christian Science Monitor, The Kenyon Review Online, Narrative, and The Progressive.
Before becoming a professional writer, Butler worked an array of odd jobs to support himself. He has been a meatpacker, a Burger King maintenance man, a liquor store clerk, a coffee roaster, an office manager, an author escort, an inn-keeper, a tutor, and a burger king maintenance man, among others. These experiences have greatly influenced his writing, providing him with a wealth of material to draw from. Butler is married and has two children, and they live together on 16 acres of land in rural Wisconsin.
Butler is best known for his bestselling novel, "Shotgun Lovesongs," which was published in 2013. The novel's success led to Fox Searchlight Pictures buying the rights to adapt it into a movie. In addition to his novels becoming international bestsellers, Butler has won several prestigious awards, including the Midwest Independent Booksellers Award in 2015 and the PAGE Prix America award in 2014. His nonfiction, poetry, and short stories have been featured in various publications, including Sixth Finch, Narrative, The Christian Science Monitor, The Lumberyard, and Ploughshares.