Before turning to narrative nonfiction with The White Cascade, Gary Krist wrote three novels--Bad Chemistry,
Chaos Theory, and Extravagance--and two short-story collections--The Garden
State and Bone by Bone. He has been a regular book reviewer for The
New York Times Book Review, Salon, and The Washington Post
Book World. His satirical op-eds have appeared in The New
York Times and Newsday, and his stories, articles, and travel pieces have been
featured in National Geographic Traveler, The Wall Street Journal, GQ, Playboy, The New Republic,
Esquire, and on National Public Radio's "Selected Shorts." His
stories have also been anthologized in such collections as Men
Seeking Women, Writers' Harvest 2, and Best American
Mystery Stories. He has been the recipient of The Stephen Crane
Award, The Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters, a Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Travel Journalism, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He
lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and daughter.