Dean Koontz was born in 1945 in Everett. Pennsylvania. When he was a senior in college, Dean Koontz won an Atlantic Monthly competition and has been writing ever since. His books are published in thirty six languages and worldwide sales total over 400 million copies. Fifty of his novels have been New York Times bestsellers and twelve have risen to number one on the hardcover bestsellers list (Midnight, Cold Fire, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, The Bad Place, Intensity, Sole Survivor, From the Corner of His Eye, One Door Away From Heaven, The Husband, Odd Hours, and Relentless), making him one of fewer than a dozen writers to have achieved that milestone. Fifteen of his books have risen to number one in paperback. The New York Times calls his writing “psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying,” and The London Times has called him “a literary juggler.” The New Orleans Times-Picayune has likened his work to Flannery O’Connor’s and Walker Percy’s, and the United Press International called Cold Fire “an extraordinary piece of fiction” and notes that “it will be a classic.”

Koontz’s first job after graduating from Shippensburg State College in Pennsylvania was in the Appalachian Poverty Program, where he was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a one-to-one basis. The following year was filled with challenge and also tension, and Koontz was more highly motivated than ever to build a career as a writer. He wrote nights and weekends, which he continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district outside of Harrisburg. After he had been a year and a half in that position, his wife, Gerda, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: “I’ll support you for five years,” she said, “and if you can’t make it as a writer in that time, you’ll never make it.” By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business-end of her husband’s writing career. Dean and Gerda Koontz live in southern California with their golden retriever, Anna, and with the enduring spirit of their golden, Trixie.

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Read here the interview of Dean Koontz at Literary Orange 2010