Kent Thompson was born in Waukegan, Illinois, in 1936. From 1966 to 1994 he taught English and creative writing at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, serving twice as editor of The Fiddlehead. He now lives in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. He has edited three anthologies, and he has published two books of poetry, a cycling guidebook, five novels, and two story collections. "A Local Hanging," a winner in the 1981 CBC Canadian Literary Awards, appeared in A Local Hanging and Other Stories (1984).