Kai Maristed was born in Chicago, studied political science and journalism at the Universities of Berlin and Munich, has an MBA from MIT.

After journalism and radio plays in Germany, Maristed published the novels Out After Dark (Permanent) and Fall (Random House) the short story collection Belong to Me (Random House) and the novel Broken Ground (Shoemaker & Hoard). Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The Kenyon Review, The American Voice, StoryQuarterly, The American Scholar, Zoetrope, and The Anchor Essay Annual. She is a frequent reviewer for The Los Angeles Times and blogger for Point de vue: Paris

Maristed has taught writing in the Warren Wilson MFA Program, Emerson College and the Harvard Extension School, and was a 2011 Writer in residence at the Vermont Studio Center. She has judged the University of Michigan Hopwood Awards and Best Paris Stories. She has served as a volunteer translator and CFO for a rural clinic in Haiti, and is a founding partner of the Technology Exchange Lab, a not-for-profit anti-poverty initiative.

She currently lives in France and the US.