Judy Blunt spent more than 30 years on wheat and cattle ranches in northeastern Montana, before leaving that life to attend the University of Montana. Her book of poems, Not Quite Stone won the Merriam-Frontier Award, and was published in 1991. Her best-selling memoir, Breaking Clean, was published by A.A. Knopf in 2002 and met with wide critical acclaim. More recently, her essay “Cooking from Scratch” was selected for the first American West Center book project, Wo/Men at Work, a series of hand- crafted chapbooks created by University of Utah press in 2012. Another essay, “Occupying the Real West,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Recognition of Blunt’s work includes a PEN/Jerard Fund Award for nonfiction, the Whiting Writers’ Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts writer’s fellowship. Blunt received a Guggenheim fellowship in 2005. She directed the creative writing program at the University of Montana, Missoula, for three years, and currently has returned to teaching nonfiction full time.