Charles D'Ambrosio

Charles D'Ambrosio is an American short story writer and essayist. He has published two collections of short stories, The Point (1995) and The Dead Fish Museum (2006). He has also published a collection of essays Orphans (2005). His writings have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Zoetrope All-Story, and A Public Space.

D'Ambrosio grew up in Seattle, Washington, and now lives in Portland, Oregon. He attended Oberlin College and graduated from the Iowa Writers Workshop, where he has been a visiting faculty member. D'Ambrosio is also an instructor at the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop.

His first short story collection, The Point, was a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Ten years elapsed between the publishing of "The Point," and his second book of fiction, The Dead Fish Museum. However, 6 of the 8 stories in The Dead Fish Museum were originally published in The New Yorker, and the book was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. In October 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Whiting Writers' Award. Among other honors, he has received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is presently a USA Rasmuson Fellow.

The Rasumuson Fellowship earned him a $50,000 grant from United States Artists, a relatively new organization that supports and promotes the work of American artists in a variety of disciplines.