Michael Craft

In 1950, Craft was born in Elgin, Illinois, where he remained until he ventured to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[1] In the 1980s, he moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin.[1]

Craft met his now husband, Leon, in 1982.[1]

In 2005, Craft and Leon moved near Palm Springs, California.[1]

When California legalized same-sex marriage in 2013, Craft and Leon were wed.[1] The couple now lives in Rancho Mirage, California.[7]

As a child, Craft attended Catholic grade school for eight years, then became a student at Elgin Academy, then a private boarding school, where he graduated as class valedictorian.[1]

Craft studied graphic design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[1] He pursued a graduate degree at the Institute for Communications Research but dropped out in 1976.[1]

Craft later received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles.[7]

Craft began his career at the Chicago Tribune as an art director, a position he held for 10 years.[1] While at the Tribune, he moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin and traveled to Chicago by train, during which he wrote the first draft of his debut novel.[1]

Craft left the Tribune in 1987 to work for his partner's family-owned business, which manufactured musical wind instruments. During his time, he was able to focus on his writing.

In 1991, Craft's debut novel, Rehearsing, was accepted by Los Hombres Press, a small publisher of gay writing in San Diego.[1] The book was released in February 1993.

In the early 2000s, Craft began playwriting and screenwriting.[1] His stage play Photo Flash was performed in 2003 in Wisconsin, then in 2008 in California.[1] In 2011, he was involved in the production of Pink Squirrels, a short, independent film.[1]

• Official website