Charles Dickinson

Charles Dickinson (born June 4, 1951) is an American novelist and short story writer. A longtime Chicago newspaper journalist, he published six novels and a story collection between 1983 and 2012, and his short fiction appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and Esquire, with two stories chosen for the O. Henry Award annual collections. settling in Arlington Heights, Illinois, where he graduated from Arlington High School and got his start in journalism as a prep-sports writer for the Daily Herald. Dickinson's short stories began appearing in national magazines in the early 1980s: "My Livelihood" in Esquire, "Bill Boston" in The New Yorker (1982), and "Risk" in The Atlantic Monthly (January 1983). and again in 2002, in a reading by Alec Baldwin. Dickinson wrote his first two novels with Dixon Ticonderoga pencils, telling a Daily Herald columnist it was "satisfying to sharpen pencils because you're making progress if the pencil's getting smaller".

Awards and honors Illinois Arts Council grant (1982)