Edmund White was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1940. He teaches at Princeton University. He is an officer of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres.
Edmund White has done a scrupulous job in uncovering the truth-His best achievement is to analyse and evaluate Genet's contribution to literature and to clarify his originality. He points up his inspired verbal invention and dense, impacted prose with many a felicitous quotation. This biography is elegant meticulous and wholly satisfying * Sunday Telegraph * A superb introduction to the great novelist and playwright, vagabond, thief and convict, and to the brutal childhood from which he mined his remarkable vision -- J G Ballard * Sunday Times * 'White's Genet is well written and clearly argues throughout-As an orthodox monument to an unorthodox man, Genet is unlikely to be surpassed' Guardian * Guardian *