Nate Pedersen

Nate Pedersen is a bestselling nonfiction writer and World Fantasy Award–nominated editor based in North Mankato, Minnesota. He is the coauthor, with Lydia Kang, MD, of Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything (Workman, 2017), Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases (Workman, 2021), and Pseudoscience: An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them (Workman, 2025). Their books have been published in thirteen languages.

In addition to his nonfiction work, Pedersen has edited several Lovecraftian and weird-fiction anthologies, including The Starry Wisdom Library (2014) and The Dagon Collection (2024), the latter of which was shortlisted for the 2025 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. He has also edited Sisterhood: Dark Tales and Secret Histories (Chaosium, 2021) and contributed fiction to The Leaves of a Necronomicon (Chaosium, 2022).

Pedersen is a contributing writer for Fine Books & Collections, and his narrative nonfiction has appeared in The Guardian, The Believer, and Mental Floss, among other outlets. His academic work has appeared in Oregon Historical Quarterly and Emerging Civil War. He holds degrees in cultural anthropology and library and information studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

He frequently lectures on history, folklore, and science for public audiences.