Carkeet is the author of five novels, Double Negative, The Greatest Slump of All Time, I Been There Before, The Full Catastrophe, and The Error of Our Ways. His memoir, Campus Sexpot, won the Creative Nonfiction Award given by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. He has also written two novels for young adults (ages 12 and up): The Silent Treatment and Quiver River. His short stories and essays have appeared in American Literature, Carolina Quarterly, Kansas Quarterly, The North American Review, The Oxford American, River Styx, The San Francisco Review of Books, New York Stories, The New York Times Magazine, Poets & Writers, and The Village Voice.
Carkeet has won an Edgar nomination by the Mystery Writers of America for Double Negative in the first-novel category, an O. Henry Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. The New York Times Book Review cited Double Negative, The Full Catastrophe, and The Error of Our Ways as "Notable Books of the Year" in 1981, 1990, and 1997. His essays have been cited for distinction in The Best American Essays 2000, 2001, and 2006.
For many years, Carkeet taught linguistics and writing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He also directed the MFA program there and edited its literary journal, Natural Bridge. He lives in Middlesex, Vermont.