Nathan Jorgenson grew up in rural Minnesota where he cultivated a passion for athletics and the outdoors. He earned a DDS degree from the University of Minnesota and has practiced dentistry since 1978. While running a business and raising a young family he found time to write, having articles published in several outdoors magazines.

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Jorgenson's first novel, Waiting for White Horses (2004), started as a story that he told his ailing father and was eventually completed after his death. After winning the 2004 Benjamin Franklin Award for the Best New Voice in Fiction, Jorgenson continued writing novels, producing two more books, The Mulligan (2007) and A Crooked Number (2011), while working full-time as a dentist.​ Since retiring, Jorgenson published his latest work, Contrapasso (2019).

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Jorgenson lives in the north woods of Minnesota with his wife and they enjoy visits from their children and grandchildren.