Kurt Vonnegur was born in Indianapolis in 1922 and studied biochemistry at Cornell University. During the Second World War he served in Europe and, as a prisoner of war in Germany, witnessed the destruction of Dresden by Allied bombers, an experience which inspired his classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five. He is the author of thirteen other novels, two collections of stories, including most recently, Bagombo Snuff Box, and three non-fiction books. He lives in New York City.