Stuart Dybek is the author of three books of fiction: I Sailed With Magellan, The Coast of Chicago, and Childhood and Other Neighborhoods. Both I Sailed With Magellan and The Coast of Chicago were New York Times Notable Books, and The Coast of Chicago was a One Book One Chicago selection.

Dybek has also published two collections of poetry: Streets in Their Own Ink and Brass Knuckles.  His fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Poetry, Tin House,  Granta, and many other magazines, and have been widely anthologized, including work in both Best American Fiction and Best American Poetry. 

Among Dybek’s numerous awards are a MacArthur Prize, the Rea Award “for significant contribution to the short story form,” PEN/Malamud Prize “for distinguished achievement in the short story,” a Lannan Award, a Whiting Writers Award, an Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters, several O.Henry Prizes, and fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation. 

He is Distinguished Writer in Residence at Northwestern University and  a member of the permanent faculty for Western Michigan University’s Prague Summer Program.

Recorded Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at University of Chicago-Classics 110.