Biography of Garth Stein

Garth Stein was born in Los Angeles, California on December 6, 1964, to a mother of Tlingit descent and a father who was the child of Austrian Jewish immigrants. Though he was born in L.A., the majority of his childhood was spent in Seattle. He lived in New York City for almost two decades, receiving a BA and MFA from Columbia University, before returning to his home city of Seattle.

Stein bases much of his fiction on his first-hand experiences growing up in Seattle. In addition to The Art of Racing in the Rain, his more recent novel, A Sudden Light, is also set in the suburbs of Seattle, where Stein spent a lot of time as a child playing with his friends.

In addition to being a best-selling author of four novels and two plays, Stein is a documentary filmmaker and has also dabbled in amateur racecar driving. He is married and has three sons.


Study Guides on Works by Garth Stein