Edmund White was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1940. His fiction includes the autobiographical trilogy┬аA BoyтАЩs Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty,┬аand┬аThe Farewell Symphony, as well as┬аCaracole, Forgetting Elena, Nocturnes for the King of Naples,┬аand┬аSkinned Alive, a collection of short stories. He is also the author of a highly acclaimed biography of Jean Genet, a short study of Proust, a travel book about gay AmericaтАФStates of DesireтАФand┬аOur Paris. He is an officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and teaches at Princeton University. He lives in New York City.