Chris Vola, a graduate of the Columbia University MFA Writing Program, was formerly the head bartender at New York City's neo-speakeasy Little Branch, where he trained under the late cocktail pioneer Sasha Petraske. In addition to a short story collection, a poetry collection, and two novels, he is the author of Cheers to Today: 365 Cocktails Because Every Day Is a Holiday (2022), Pour One Out: Cocktail Odes to TV's Most Dearly Departed (2019) and I is for Illuminati: An A-Z Guide to Our Paranoid Times (2020). His writings about drinks, literature, food, and pop culture have appeared in print and online journals, including The Brooklyn Rail, Thrillist, Supercall, and Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency. He lives in New York City.