Paul Shepherd is a Writer in Residence and former Kingsbury Fellow at Florida State University, where he earned a PhD with distinction.  He attended the University of Virginia, UNC-Chapel Hill, and UNC-Greensboro.  His work has appeared in Crazyhorse, Fiction, Omni, Prairie Schooner, William and Mary Review, Folio, Pacific Review, US Catholic, St. Anthony Messenger, Portland Review, the Quarterly, Beloit Fiction, Maryland Review, and elsewhere.  He has served as Senior Editor of International Quarterly, and as faculty advisor to award-winning college newspapers and literary magazines. He is represented by Dorian Karchmar, of the William Morris Agency in New York City.

Paul has taught college classes in creative writing, magazine and newspaper writing, and modern literature.  He speaks on a variety of topics (see details on the "reading tour" page).

More Like Not Running Away was a finalist for the Associated Writing Programs Award in the the Novel, the Bakeless Prize, and twice for the James Jones prizes.

His book of poetry, Reasons Like Birds, is currently in submission to publishers.  A second novel, as yet untitled, is scheduled for completion early in the coming year.   

He lives in Tallahassee, where he works part-time with family ministries at St. Stephen Lutheran Church, and with Rainbow Rehab, a nonprofit construction company that renovates homes for low-income homeowners.

His wife, Lois Shepherd, is the D'Alemberte Professor of Law and a bioethicist at the Florida State University College of Law.  They have three children, Max, Summer, and Charlie.