James W. Fuerst was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, graduated cum laude from Princeton University, received an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School University and earned his MA and PhD at Harvard University.

He wrote HUGE while living in London and now resides in Brooklyn, where he spends most of his free time thoroughly stymied by the most elementary aspects of DIY home renovation, to the great merriment of his beloved spouse and his haughty, corpulent cat.