Charles Frazier was born on November 4, 1950, in Asheville, North Carolina. Frazier grew up surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains, which later became the setting for his most famous work, Cold Mountain. Frazier attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned his BA in English. He then went on to complete his MA in English at Appalachian State University, followed by a PhD in American literature at the University of South Carolina. Frazier worked as a professor of literature at various universities, including the University of Colorado Boulder, before eventually dedicating himself to writing full-time.

The idea for Cold Mountain emerged from Frazier’s fascination with a family story about his great-great-uncle, W.P. Inman, who deserted from the Confederate Army during the Civil War and embarked on a perilous journey back to his home in the North Carolina mountains. However, it took years before he decided to transform this family anecdote into a full-fledged novel. Frazier began writing Cold Mountain in the early 1990s, while he was still teaching. The process was slow and meticulous. Frazier engaged in extensive historical research, wanting to capture the experience of the Civil War and the Southern Appalachian culture.