Tom Disch was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1940 and moved to New York in 1957. A critically acclaimed and award-winning science fiction author (writing as Thomas M. Disch), he published many novels, collections of short stories and of poetry, as well as children’s fiction and two works of poetry criticism. He was a regular reviewer for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation and others. He committed suicide in 2008.