James T. Farrell was born Chicago, Illinois on February 27, 1904. He attended the University of Chicago, but left before graduating. During his lifetime, he publish more than 50 books, including 28 novels and 16 collections of short stories. He is the author of the Studs Lonigan Trilogy, the Danny O'Neill Pentalogy, The Bernard Carr Trilogy, and The Universe of Time series featuring Eddie Ryan. He died on August 22, 1979.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. to Irish immigrant parents in 1935, Pete Hamill attended Mexico City College, Pratt Institute, and The School of Visual Arts before starting a career in journalism. In 1960, Hamill accepted an entry-level job at the New York Post, becoming a columnist five years later. Hamill subsequently worked as a columnist for the New York Daily News and the Village Voice. Later working as a contributing editor at Esquire, Hamill has written articles for the New York Times magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair, and Playboy magazine, among others. He is also an accomplished novelist, having written more than a dozen books, including his national best-selling memoir, A Drinking… Life, and the novels Snow in August; Why Sinatra Matters; and Lost Cities, Vanished Friends.