Michael Craft, born as Michael Craft Johnson in 1950 in Elgin, Illinois, is a celebrated author with a prolific career spanning over two decades. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles, which has significantly contributed to his storytelling prowess.
Craft has authored nineteen novels, with four of them named as finalists for Lambda Literary Awards. His 2019 mystery, "ChoirMaster," was a Gold Winner of the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award. In 2023, his first installment of the Dante & Jazz series, "Desert Getaway," was nominated for the Lilian Jackson Braun Award at the Edgar Awards. His short fiction has also earned recognition, featuring in both British and American literary journals.
Born and raised in Illinois, Craft later moved to Wisconsin, where he spent his middle years. These experiences greatly influenced his fiction, leading him to create the fictitious small-town setting of Dumont, used in many of his earlier works. Currently, Craft resides in Rancho Mirage, California, near Palm Springs, serving as the backdrop for his new Dante & Jazz mystery series. In 2017, the author's professional archives were acquired by the Special Collections Department of the Rivera Library at the University of California, Riverside.