John Oakes has worked in independent publishing for the last twenty-five years as editor and publisher. He is currently co-publisher of a a start-up, OR Books (www.orbooks.com). Oakes started in publishing with the legendary Grove Press and subsequently co-founded the publishing house Four Walls Eight Windows (1987-1994). Among the many authors he has published are Andrei Codrescu, Sue Coe, R. Crumb, Cory Doctorow, Andrea Dworkin, Abbie Hoffman, Jack Kerouac, Gordon Lish, Harvey Pekar, Rudy Rucker, John Waters and Edmund White. Oakes serves on the board of PEN America and the New York Public Library's Publishers Committee. He has written for the Associated Press, the International Herald Tribune, and the Review of Contemporary Fiction.