Curtis Sittenfeld was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, as the second oldest of four siblings. Her mother taught history of art at a private school and her father was a banker. At the age of thirteen, Curtis was restless and ready for new adventures, and she decided she wanted to attend the prestigious Groton school near Boston. She graduated in 1993 and went on to Vassar and Stanford, eventually graduating with an MA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. She later taught at the St. Albans boys' school in Washington DC. Sittenfeld started to write for her school magazine while she was still at college, and she decided from early on that she wanted to be a writer. She has contributed to The New York Times, Washington Post and Salon. Now a full time writer she lives with her family in St. Louis, Missouri.