About the Author

John Griswold grew up in Herrin and graduated from Herrin High School in 1981. After serving in the US Army, he attended Northern Illinois University and worked in Chicago for several years as a corporate writer. He now lives with his wife and two sons in Champaign-Urbana, where he teaches writing abd literature at the University of Illinois. His novel, A Democracy of Ghosts, is set during the infamous Herrin Massacre and its main character is based on Griswold s grandfather, who was a state senator and the UMWA sub-district president in Herrin in 1922.