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John Ortved grew up in Toronto and studied at McGill University. His work has appeared in New York Magazine, Interview, Vice, The New York Observer, and Vanity Fair, where he works as an editorial associate. He lives in New York City and Toronto.

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John Ortved's profile page

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Douglas Coupland was born on a Canadian NATO base in Germany and raised in Vancouver, where he still resides. Among his best-selling novels are Generation X, Shampoo Planet, Polaroids From The Dead, Microserfs, Miss Wyoming, Hey Nostradamus! and Eleanor Rigby, altogether in print in some 40 countries. Coupland also exhibits his sculpture in galleries around the world, indulging in design experiments that include everything from launching collections of furniture to futurological consulting for Stephen Spielberg.

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Douglas Coupland's profile page

p class=review_text>There are tales of animation deals gone sour, personality clashes that have turned into decades-long grudge—it seems like everyone interviewed knows of someone who got less than he deserved. (Or, in the case of Groening, much, much more.) —City News

p class=review_text>Ortved managed to finagle interviews with some of the show's most prominent writers, producers, voice actors and guest stars, including Conan O'Brien, Hank Azaria and Ricky Gervais. He even nabbed an interview with Fox boss Rupert Murdoch, who laughed off the protests of his producers. For hardcore Simpsons devotees, some of the information unearthed in Ortved's book might be as intoxicating as a few cans of Duff or as sweet as an all-syrup Squishee. —Hamilton Spectator

p class=review_text>In explaining why he structured his book as an oral history, compiled from both original interviews and excerpts from old ones, Ortved says that his approach is all the more logical because of ' the lack of cooperation from Jim Brooks and the current Simpsons staff.' The subtext in this line is clear: if you want to find the dirt they—i.e., executive producer Brooks, creator Matt Groening, and the voices of the Simpsons themselves—don' t want you to know, you' ve come to the right place. —See Magazine

p class=review_text>The book is at its strongest with off-centre stories . . . It's a Simpsons history almost as odd as the show itself. —Maclean's