Short Bio

Josh Boldt is an author from Lexington, Kentucky who writes mystery, crime, and Southern Gothic fiction. His novels include Moneymaker, The False Favorite, and Slurry, and his short fiction has appeared in Big Smoke Pulp. Boldt also serves on the Board of Directors for the Lexington Writer’s Room.

Long Bio

I grew up in the South and have worked a range of jobs. I’ve stocked groceries, washed dishes, done construction and hard labor, waited tables, worked on horse farms, sold mattresses, planted trees, delivered pizzas and phone books, picked apples, tracked gypsy moths for an entomologist, umpired baseball, and been one of those guys who drops orange cones on the highway to close off lanes.

Let’s just say I am a believer in the Jack London school of experiential learning, and I’m a lifelong seeker of new adventures. You better believe I learned more in all those jobs about how to write good characters than I could ever hope to glean in a classroom.

Later, I earned a master’s degree in English and taught writing at the University of Georgia, during which time I wrote a few essays for The Chronicle of Higher Education that garnered international attention from The New York Times, Slate, Salon, Al-Jazeera, the U.S. Department of Education, the American Historical Association, and the Modern Language Association, among others. I landed on the radio show Here & Now, and I was invited to give a keynote address at the Modern Language Association’s annual conference. That’s when I realized I might have a knack for the written word, so I decided to see what I could do.

These days, I live in Lexington, Kentucky, where I write mystery, crime, and Southern Gothic fiction. My novels include Moneymaker, The False Favorite, and Slurry, and my short fiction has appeared in Big Smoke Pulp. I also serve on the Board of Directors for the Lexington Writer’s Room.