Joshua Ferris was born in 1974 in Danville, Illinois. When he was ten years old, he moved with his mother, sister, brother, and stepfather to Cudjoe Key, Florida (a small island in the Florida Keys with a population of less than two thousand), where he spent a lot of time fishing, boating, and snorkeling in the tropical waters. He also ran a one-boy lawn service there. At eleven, he took on his first official job as a dishwasher for a pizza parlor. When he was ready for high school, his family moved back to Downers Grove, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Upon graduation, Ferris was accepted at the University of Iowa, where he majored in English and philosophy. Afterward, he worked in a few advertising agencies in Chicago before entering the MFA program in writing at the University of California, Irvine.

Then We Came to the End is Ferris’ first novel. He has written several short stories and is currently working on a screenplay adaptation of Then We Came, which is scheduled to be produced by HBO. Ferris is also writing a new screenplay called Seven Days. He and his wife live in New York City.