Hewett Grayson was born in 1976 and grew up in the Appalachian coalfields, the son of a preacher and a coal miner. He left college to work for the railroad and has spent his life on the rails—as a conductor, certified engineer, and now a dispatcher—experiences that deeply inform his writing. His stories blend lived working-class reality with the influence of folktales and Greek tragedy, exploring faith, grief, justice, and the long shadow of consequence.