Robert Cole is a dramatic writer, essayist, and educator from Walker County, Alabama. He is the author of the Walstone/ Walbridge County plays, Many of his pieces of non-fiction are published on his website—www.walstonecounty.com. He won the 1999 Ruby Lloyd Apsey Award in Playwriting and his plays have been honored as finalists or honorable mentions in prize contests awarded by the University of Arkansas, Northern Michigan University, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Alabama Writers’ Forum, and the Horizon Theatre. After training as an actor, he studied playwriting with David Henry Hwang, Gladden Schrock, and Lee Eric Shackleford. He is a graduate of Athens State University, Bennington College, and the Alabama School of Fine Arts. He serves as the Dramatic Arts teacher at Pinson Valley High School and lives in Sumiton, Alabama.