Andrew Geyer was born in Austin, and grew up on a working cattle ranch in Southwest Texas. He lived in Austin again in the 1980s and 1990s, along with stints in Columbia, South Carolina; Tishomingo, Oklahoma; Lubbock, Texas; Russellville, Arkansas; and Aiken, South Carolina, earning along the way BA's in English and Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin, an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of South Carolina, and a PhD in American Literature and Creative Writing from Texas Tech University. Geyer has been—among other things—a bartender, a waiter, a busboy, a bellhop, a cashier, a landscaper, a construction worker, a manager at a Birkenstock store, a student, a teacher, and a writer. A lover of the outdoors, and an avid runner and canoeist, Geyer has traveled extensively in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, and North Africa. But Austin has always been the place that he comes back to.
In addition to Siren Songs from the Heart of Austin, Geyer has published two other books and more than thirty short stories. His first novel, Meeting the Dead, was published in 2007 by University of New Mexico Press. His debut short story cycle, Whispers in Dust and Bone (Texas Tech University Press 2003) won the silver medal for Short Fiction in the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards, and was named a finalist for the John Gardner Fiction Book Award. One of the stories in the collection won the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America for the best short story published in 2003. Geyer’s short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Carolina Aiken.
