Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Krist is a graduate of Princeton University. In 1979-80, he studied literature at the Universitaet Konstanz (Germany) on a Fulbright Scholarship. The author has been profiled in The New York Times Book Review (November 6, 1988) and the Style section of The Washington Post (February 25, 2007). Krist lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and daughter.