Douglas Coupland is a man of varied talents and interests. He is a novelist, short story author, essayist, playwright, and artist.

Coupland was born is Germany on a Canadian NATO base on December 30, 1961. When he was four years old, his family moved back to British Columbia, Canada, which Coupland has claimed as his home.  Coupland attended the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Canada, as well as other art schools in Italy and Japan. He majored in sculpture.

Coupland's first novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, was published in 1991. The book became a bestseller, making Coupland a popular spokesman for his generation. His next novel, Shampoo Planet (1992), is about the next generation, who was raised on computers. Life after God (1994), a collection of short stories, also includes illustrations by the author. Microsefs (1995) is Coupland's third novel. Coupland has said that each of his novels varies greatly from the others. Therefore, he receives comments from his readers who love one of his fictional works but really dislike another one. (See Coupland's Web site listed below for more comments by the author.)  In all, Coupland has written novels. The Gum Thief(2007) is his most recent. He has also written six non-fiction books. In 2007, Coupland wrote the movie script for Everything's Gone Green, a comedy about capitalism gone bad.

When asked by Dwight Garner, of the New York Times's "Stray Questions," what Coupland was working on next, the author replied: "A new novel set in the near future when bees are extinct."  Coupland then added: "And a gorgeous film project about the end of the world."