Reid Maruyama was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California. After studying English Literature at UC Berkeley, he fled California for the Chihuahuan Desert, where he received his MFA from the University of New Mexico studying nonfiction and poetry. Reid also had the opportunity to work as a graduate assistant to N. Scott Momaday in seminars on Oral Poetics and American poetry. Reid has taught college and/or high school English for the last seven years and also works as a professional ghostwriter and is currently back living in California with his dog Charley.