Archive Date: November 17, 2014
Archive Text: Writers’ Workshop Faculty Member Charles D’Ambrosio reads from his collection Loitering: New and Collected Essays.
Loitering includes essays from the limited edition and immensely popular collection Orphans, in addition to new and previously uncollected work. Orphans spawned something of a cult following. In the decade since the volume sold out its print run, its devotees have pressed it upon their friends, students, and colleagues, only to find themselves begging for their copy’s safe return. For anyone familiar with D’Ambrosio’s writing, this enthusiasm should come as no surprise. His work is exacting and emotionally generous, often as funny as it is devastating. D’Ambrosio approaches each piece with a singular voice and point of view; each essay, while unique and surprising, is unmistakably his own.
Charles D'Ambrosio is also the author two collections of short stories, The Point and The Dead Fish Museum. He's been the recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award, an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Lannan Foundation Fellowship, and a USA Rasmuson Fellowship.