Donald Ray Pollock is an American writer. Born and raised in Knockemstiff, Ohio, Pollock has lived his entire adult life in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he worked at the Mead Paper Mill as a laborer until age 50, when he enrolled in the creative writing program at The Ohio State University. While there, Doubleday published his debut short story collection, Knockemstiff, and the New York Times regularly published his election dispatches from southern Ohio throughout the 2008 campaign. Pollock is the recipient of the 2009 PEN/Robert Bingham Award, which carries a $35,000 cash prize. The prize committee included Dale Peck and Kathryn Harrison. He also recently won the 2009 Devil's Kitchen Award in Prose sponsored by the English Department of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.