Salvatore Pane was born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He is the author of five books: The Neorealist in Winter: Stories (2023), winner of the Autumn House Fiction Prize; Story Mode: The Creative Writer’s Guide to Narrative Video Game Design (2023) winner of a Choice Award from the American Library Association, The Theory of Almost Everything (2018), Mega Man 3 (2016), and Last Call in the City of Bridges (2012).
He is also the writer/narrative designer of RetroMania Wrestling on Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox. He served as a Freelance Localization Editor for NIS America on Trails to Azure and earned his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. Currently, he’s an Associate Professor at the University of St. Thomas where he teaches creative writing, video games, and Italian film. In 2024, he was awarded the university’s Distinguished Early Career grant, and, in 2025, he was officially ranked as the top 10,479th Pokémon Trading Card Game player in North America. He lives with his wife and Martin Scorsese the Cat in St. Paul.
His short fiction has been nominated or shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Web, Best of the Net, and Wigleaf’s Top 50 [Very] Short Fictions. He won the Turow-Kinder Award in Fiction judged by Stewart O’ Nan, and his work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, Story Magazine, American Short Fiction, Paste, Kotaku, BOMB, The Rumpus, The American Book Review, and many other venues. He is the co-creator of the graphic novel, The Black List, and co-hosted The Jabsteps, a podcast about the NBA. His video games have been exhibited at WordPlay and BAR SK, and he has presented his work in Italy, Iceland, and elsewhere internationally.
Visit his LinkedIn or get in touch at salpane@gmail.com. His work is represented by Andrianna deLone at CAA.
Salvatore Pane 