Sandy McIntosh was born in Rockville Centre, New York, and received a BA from Southampton College in 1970, an MFA from Columbia University in 1972, and a PhD. from the Union Graduate School in 1979. After working with children for eight years as a writer in the schools he completed a study of writers who taught in the program and how their work with children affected their own writing. The study, The Poets in the Poets-in-the Schools was published by the Minnesota Center for Social Research, University of Minnesota. He alternated teaching creative writing at Southampton College, New York Institute of Technology, and Hofstra University with publishing nonfiction works, such as Firing Back (John Wiley, 1997), and computer software, such as Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing! (Electronic Arts, 1986). For several years he contributed journalism, poetry, and opinion columns to The New York Times, Newsday, The Nation, The Wall Street Journal, American Book Review, and elsewhere. He was also editor and publisher of Wok Talk, a Chinese cooking bi- monthly and the author and editor of several Chinese cook books.