Payne received his bachelor's degree in Comparative Literature at Indiana University and was awarded an MFA at the University of Alabama. He completed his PhD at Stanford University.

Payne conducted fieldwork in the Quechua highlands of Peru and has published two books from this research. Cuentos cusqueños is a dual language text, in both Quechua and Spanish, and gives stories told by several Quechua native speakers. She-Calf and Other Quechua Folk Tales is a translation of Quechua folktales into English.

NovelsPayne, best known for his novel Kentuckiana, has been a relentless experimenter with form. Publisher's Weekly referred to him as a "master ventriloquist" (1991) based on his ability to imitate and integrate many forms and style into the weave of his multiform novels. Pastiche and parody, folklore and fables, black comedy and theatrical devices, and as well as postmodern self-consciousness are all used to tell stories that are essentially human parables.

Novels

• Kentuckiana (1997)
• North of Patagonia (2001)
• The Ambassador’s Son
• Baja (1998)
• Chalk Lake (1996)

Plays

• The Devil in Disputanta
• The Serpent’s Lover

Literary Ethnography

• She-Calf and Other Quechua Folk Tales
• Cuentos cusqueños (1984)

Non-fiction

• Conquest of the New Word: Experimental Fiction and Translation in the Americas (1993)
• Voice and Style (1995)
• “Talking Around Terrorism: A Conference Report”. Telos 74 (Winter 1987-88). New York: Telos Press.

Translations

• with Phyllis Silverstein Teresa Porzecanski, Sun Inventions; Perfumes of Carthage:Two Novellas (2000)