Laird Hunt is an accomplished American writer, translator, and academic. He was born in Singapore on April 3, 1968, and spent his childhood in various cities around the world, including San Francisco, The Hague, and London. Eventually, Hunt moved to his grandmother's farm in rural Indiana, where he attended high school. This multicultural upbringing exposed Hunt to a diverse range of experiences and perspectives, which would later inform his writing.
Hunt earned his B.A. from Indiana University and went on to study French literature at the Sorbonne. He also received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. While studying at Naropa, Hunt had the opportunity to learn from esteemed writers and poets, such as Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. These influences helped to shape Hunt's unique literary voice.
Before becoming a professor in the Creative Writing program at the University of Denver, Hunt worked in the press office at the United Nations while writing his first novel. His work as a translator has allowed him to continue engaging with a variety of languages and cultures. Hunt currently lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife, the poet Eleni Sikelianos, where he continues to write and teach. Throughout his career, Hunt has received critical acclaim for his work, which often explores themes of identity, place, and history.