William Harcourt was born in Chicago in 1955 and was adopted from a foundling home at four months old. He grew up in Alhambra, California, where much of his autobiographical novel, What Happened to Yesterday?, takes place.

His life has taken an unconventional path through banking, bartending, drug trafficking and federal prison, followed by years devoted to rebuilding his life, serving others and building businesses. His work with Welfare-to-Work programs across the United States received recognition from President Bill Clinton in 2000.

Harcourt's article “Blowing It,” published in Philadelphia Magazine in 1989, received the Society of Professional Journalists' award for Best Creative Writing. His writing draws heavily upon lived experience and explores family, faith, failure, redemption and the search for meaning without offering easy answers.

He lives in Camden, Maine, with his partner, Ann.