Susan Straight is an award-winning American novelist and short story writer. She is best known for her novels Highwire Moon, A Million Nightingales, and Take One Candle Light a Room. Her work often focuses on the lives of people living in the Inland Empire of Southern California, and she has been praised for her vivid and lyrical writing style. Straight was born in Riverside, California, and grew up in the nearby city of Upland. She attended the University of California, Riverside, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing. She then went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of California, Irvine. Straight has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Lannan Literary Award, the American Book Award, and the Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal. She has also been a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In addition to her writing, Straight is also an active member of the literary community. She has served as a judge for the National Book Awards, and she is a frequent speaker at literary events. She is also a professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.