Kim Edwards, born on May 4, 1958, in Killeen, Texas, is a celebrated American author and educator. Edwards' upbringing in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York significantly influenced her literary journey. She boasts an impressive academic background, having graduated from Colgate University followed by The University of Iowa, where she earned an MFA in fiction and an MA in linguistics.

Edwards is well-known for her story collection, The Secrets of a Fire King, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her stories have graced the pages of prestigious periodicals such as The Paris Review, Story, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, and many others. Her accolades include a Pushcart Prize, the National Magazine Award, the Nelson Algren Award, and inclusion in both The Best American Short Stories and the Symphony Space program 'Selected Shorts.' She is also a recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, along with grants from the Pennsylvania and Kentucky Arts Councils, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Her first novel, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, became a word-of-mouth best-seller, spending 122 consecutive weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, including 20 weeks at #1. The novel also won the Kentucky Literary Award and the British Book Award, and was chosen as Book of the Year for 2006 by USA Today. Her second novel, The Lake of Dreams, was an Independent Booksellers pick and became an international best seller. Edwards' work has been published in more than 32 countries. Currently, she is working on a new novel, as well as a collection of related stories.