Max Apple, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on 22 October 1941, is best known for his humorous and satiric short stories. Critics have compared him favorably with John Barth, Philip Roth, Robert Coover, and Woody Allen. Apple's caricatures of real people fill his parables with spoofery (which has a special midwestern ring to it), gentle irony, and a touch of absurdity that distinguishes his writing from more traditional satire. His language is accessible without requiring arcane associations to reveal meanings, and his books are popular among college students.

Apple grew up in a Jewish household where language was respected, humor inveterate, and a strong sense of style important in learning the American idioms. His mother is Betty Goodstein Apple; his father, Samuel, was a baker. In a 1981 essay in the New York Times Book Review, Apple wrote, "I was in my late 20's before I got all the sentences right...