Jon Clinch is an American novelist and teacher. Originally from upstate Oneida, New York, he graduated from Syracuse University and went on to teach American literature. Formerly creative director for various advertising agencies in the Philadelphia area, he now lives in Vermont. He has written stories which have been published in MSS magazine. In February 2007 Random House published his first novel, Finn, a critically acclaimed backstory about "Pap Finn," Huckleberry Finn's father from Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Named an American Library Association Notable Book, Finn was also named one of the best novels of 2007 by the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Christian Science Monitor and Book Sense. It was also shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle's first-ever Best Recommended List and the Sargent First Novel Prize. Clinch's second novel, Kings of the Earth, was published by Random House in July 2010 to wide critical acclaim, and was named #1 on the annual summer reading list prepared by O, The Oprah Magazine.