Andrew Crumey was born in Glasgow in 1961. He read theoretical physics and mathematics at St Andrews University and Imperial College in London, before doing post-doctoral research at Leeds University on nonlinear dynamics.

After a spell of being the literary editor at Scotland on Sunday he now combines teaching creative writing at Northumbria University with his writing.

His first novel Music, in a Foreign Language (1994) was awarded The Saltire Best First Book Prize. His second novel Pfitz (1995) was one of the books of the year for The Observer and The New York Times. He published D’Alembert’s Principle to great acclaim in 1996. Mr Mee (2000), Mobius Dick (2004) and Sputnik Caledonia (2008) followed. His novels have been translated into 13 languages and received many awards.