Gordon Korman was born in Montreal, Quebec. In 1970, he relocated with his parents to Thornhill, Ontario. In 7th grade, he wrote a work that went on to become his first novel in a school writing assignment. It was published under the title This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall in 1978, when Korman was 14 years old. He wrote and published another four books while in high school.
After high school, he moved to New York City where he studied film and film writing at New York University. In 1985 he received his B.A. in Dramatic and Visual Writing. He has written more than 75 books. He lives in Great Neck, New York, with his wife and three children.