Andrew Crumey was born in Glasgow in 1961. He studied theoretical physics at Saint Andrews University and Imperial College, London, where he received his PhD. He did post-doctoral research at Leeds University, then moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in 1992, working as a schoolteacher until 1996, and then as a full-time author and critic. He became literary editor of Scotland on Sunday newspaper in 2000.

Andrew Crumey's novels have been translated into ten languages and he is a regular participant in international literary festivals. Prizes include the Saltire First Book Award, SAC Book Award and Arts Council Writers Award. His novels are Music In A Foreign Language (Dedalus, 1994), Pfitz (Dedalus, 1995), D'Alembert's Principle (Dedalus, 1996), Mr Mee (Picador, 2000), Mobius Dick (Picador, 2004). He has been described as a "master of postmodern irony", and his style of intellectual literary fiction has often been compared to that of Borges, Kundera, Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco.