Mitch Wieland is the current Idaho Writer in Residence. His third novel, The Ghosts of Okuma, is available for preorder. The book has received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and was a Kirkus BEST INDIE BOOK for March. The new novel has received advance praise from Ann Beattie, Charles Baxter, Anthony Doerr, Andrea Barrett, Bret Lott, and Rick Bass.

Wieland's first novel, Willy Slater’s Lane, was awarded starred reviews in Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist. The book was optioned for a film. His second novel, God’s Dogs, was a top finalist for the John Gardner Fiction Book Award and became Idaho Book of the Year.

Wieland's short story publications include The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, The Best of the West, The Kenyon Review, The Yale Review, and The Sewanee Review. He’s been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the Idaho Commission on the Arts, and the Alexa Rose Foundation.

Wieland is the founding editor of the award-winning Idaho Review—publishing writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, T.C. Boyle, and Joy Williams—and co-founder and longtime director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Boise State. Now in his thirtieth year at the university, he teaches fiction writing, narrative structure, and publishing classes in the MFA and BFA/BA programs in creative writing.