Alicia L. Conroy's first book, the story collection Lives of Mapmakers, was released in June 2006 by Carnegie Mellon University Press. The book features the story "Mud-Colored Beauties of the Plains," which first appeared in the Emerging Writers issue of Ploughshares, Winter 03-04. Conroy teaches and writes in Minneapolis, Minn. She has an M.F.A. in creative writing from Bowling Green State University and a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College.