Tess Gallagher is a noted writer of both poetry and short fiction, and one of the few writers equally acclaimed in both genres. She is also the literary executor of Raymond Carver, her late husband and the first Mackey. Her honors include a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, two National Endowment for the Arts awards, the Maxine Cushing Gray Foundation Award, and the Elliston Award for "best book of poetry published by a small press" for her 1976 collection Instructions to the Double.