SCOTT HEIM was born in Kansas and lived there, in a small farming community, for the first eighteen years of his life. There were 25 people in his high school's graduating class. He attended Kansas University in Lawrence and received a B.A. in 1989 and an M.A. in 1991.

That same year he moved to New York City, attending Columbia University's M.F.A. program in writing. Mysterious Skin, Scott's first novel, was his thesis while at Columbia, and was published by HarperCollins to wide acclaim in early 1995. He is also the author of a book of poetry, Saved From Drowning (1993). His fiction and nonfiction pieces have appeared in the Village Voice, Interview, the Advocate, and other journals and anthologies.

In early 1997, Scott finished the screenplay for Mysterious Skin, which is currently being optioned for movie rights by the Alfred Shay Company, producers of the independent film Swingers. HarperCollins will publish Scott's second novel, IN AWE, in June of 1997. Scott currently lives in the East Village of Manhattan, where he is writing a new novel and a collection of short fiction.