Chicago Author Patrick Somerville's Debut Novel

Patrick Somerville, who teaches literature and creative writing at Northwestern University, recently published his first novel, The Cradle. The Chicago Public Library has named him the winner of the 21st Century Award, and the novel has been optioned for film rights. Somerville also has published a volume of short stories, Trouble, in 2006. In a recent interview with Mary Houlihan of the Chicago Sun Times, Somerville said "I'm definitely of a school of writers that believes imagination can take you to a lot of places. Fiction is a way to explore questions about life, a workshop to think through the issues ahead of time."