Ed Simon is an American author and academic, currently teaching public humanities in the English department at Carnegie Mellon University. He also serves as editor-in-chief of Belt Magazine and the upcoming Pittsburgh Review of Books, while contributing as an editor for The Montreal Review. Additionally, he is editor emeritus for The Millions and writes monthly columns for 3 Quarks Daily and Literary Hub. Since 2024, he has also been the creative nonfiction editor at Carnegie Mellon University Press.
His publications include more than a dozen books, such as An Alternative History of Pittsburgh (Belt Publishing), Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology (Abrams), and Devil’s Contract: The History of the Faustian Bargain (Melville House), the latter being named one of the best books of 2024 by The New Yorker. His essays have appeared in prestigious journals such as The Atlantic, The Paris Review Daily, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Poetry, McSweeney’s, Aeon, Jacobin, Salon, The New Republic, and The New York Times.
Originally from Pittsburgh, Ed Simon holds a PhD in English from Lehigh University (2017), a postgraduate degree from the University of Strathclyde (2008), a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University (2007), and a bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College (2006).
