Luc Sante was born in Verviers, Belgium. His other books include Low Life, Evidence, The Factory of Facts, Kill All Your Darlings, and The Other Paris. He is the recipient of a Whiting Award, Guggenheim and Cullman fellowships, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Grammy (for album notes), and an Infinity Award for Writing from the International Center of Photography. He has contributed to the New York Review of Books since 1981 and has written for many other publications. He is a visiting professor of writing and the history of photography at Bard College and lives in Ulster County, New York.