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Many reviews of Charles D'Ambrosio's work compare it to the short stories of Raymond Carver, Thom Jones, and Denis Johnson. D'Ambrosio is the author of an essay collection, Orphans (Clear Cut, 2004), and two short story collections: The Point (Little, Brown, 1995), a PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist and New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and The Dead Fish Museum (Knopf, 2006). His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Pushcart Anthology, Best American Short Stories, A Public Space, and elsewhere.

D'Ambrosio grew up in Seattle during the 1970s and 1980s—a place he calls “an old-time, middle-class Seattle”—and attended Oberlin College in Ohio. He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he later served as a visiting faculty member. He now resides in Portland, Oregon, with his wife.

About his writing's connection to the Pacific Northwest, D'Ambrosio says, “All the original violence of the American project is still vibrating...in a big bang sort of way—you can stand at the end of things and hear the beginning. It makes sense that pattern would show up in my stories.”

D'Ambrosio was interviewed at The Top Hat Lounge & Casino during the Montana Festival of the Book in Missoula.