Thomas Fahy grew up in Los Angeles, California. He has studied literature and music throughout his life and received undergraduate degrees in both fields from the University of California at Davis. After earning a Ph.D. in literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he taught at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo. He has also taught at Loyola Marymount University and California State University in Los Angeles. He now lives in New York, where he is a professor of literature and Director of the American Studies Program at Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus.