Donald Ray Pollock

Born in 1954, Donald Ray Pollock grew up in Ohio. He left high school at 17 and first worked in a meatpacking plant, then spent more than three decades at a paper mill, mostly as a truck driver. In the late 1980s, he completed his high-school education through evening classes and enrolled at Ohio State University. In 2008, he made his literary debut with the short-story collection *Knockemstiff*.