Background and career
Charles Michael Palahniuk (; PAW-lə-nick; Ukrainian pronunciation: [pɐlɐɦˈnʲuk], born February 21, 1962) is an American novelist who describes his work as transgressive fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two adult coloring books, as well as several short stories. His first published novel, Fight Club, was adapted into a film of the same title.
Palahniuk was born in Pasco, Washington, the son of Carol Adele (née Tallent) and Fred Palahniuk. He has French and Ukrainian ancestry. His paternal grandfather migrated from Ukraine to Canada and then to New York in 1907. Palahniuk grew up living in a mobile home in Burbank, Washington. His parents separated when he was 14 years old; they subsequently divorced, often leaving him and his three siblings to live with their maternal grandparents at their cattle ranch in eastern Washington. He was 18 when his parents told him that his paternal grandfather murdered his paternal grandmother. In a 2007 interview, Palahniuk said that he is a distant relative of actor Jack Palance (né Volodymyr Palahniuk) and his daughter Holly. Palahniuk attended the University of Oregon, graduating with a degree in journalism in 1986. As part of his coursework, he interned at the local public radio station, KLCC.
Palahniuk wrote for his local newspaper for a short while but then began working for Freightliner Trucks as a diesel mechanic, until gaining traction in his writing career. During that time, he wrote manuals on fixing trucks and had a stint as a journalist, a job which he did not return to until after he became a successful novelist. After attending a seminar by Landmark Education, Palahniuk quit his job as a journalist in 1988. He performed volunteer work for a homeless shelter and volunteered at a hospice as an escort, providing transportation for terminally ill people, taking them to support group meetings. He ceased volunteering upon the death of a patient to whom he grew attached. Palahniuk began writing fiction in his early 30s. By his account, he started writing while attending workshops for writers that were hosted by Tom Spanbauer, which he attended to meet new friends. Spanbauer largely inspired Palahniuk's minimalistic writing style.
After his first novel – Invisible Monsters – was rejected by all publishers he submitted it to, he began work on his first published novel, Fight Club. Palahniuk wrote this story in his spare time while working for Freightliner. After initially publishing it as a short story (which became chapter 6 of the novel) in the 1995 compilation Pursuit of Happiness, Palahniuk expanded it into a full novel, which a publisher accepted. Initially, Palahniuk struggled to find a literary agent and went without one until after the publication of Fight Club. After he began receiving attention from 20th Century Fox, Palahniuk was signed by actor and literary agent Edward Hibbert. Hibbert eventually guided and brokered the deal that took Fight Club to the big screen. In 1999, the film adaptation by director David Fincher was released.
A revised version of Invisible Monsters, as well as his fourth novel, Survivor, were published in 1999. A few years later Palahniuk completed his first New York Times bestseller, the novel Choke, which later was made into a movie.
In 1999, Palahniuk experienced multiple tragedies. At that time, his father, Fred Palahniuk, started dating a woman named Donna Fontaine, whom he met through a personal ad under the title "Kismet". Her former boyfriend, Dale Shackelford, was previously imprisoned for sexual abuse and vowed to kill Fontaine as soon as he was released from prison. Palahniuk reportedly believed that, using a personal ad, Fontaine was looking for "the biggest man she could find" to protect her from Shackelford, and Palahniuk's father qualified. After his release, Shackelford followed Fontaine and the senior Palahniuk to Fontaine's home in Kendrick, Idaho, after they went out for a date. Shackelford then shot them both and dragged their bodies into Fontaine's cabin home, which he then set alight. In the spring of 2001, Shackelford was found guilty for two counts of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. In the wake of these events, Palahniuk began working on the novel Lullaby. He stated that he wrote the novel to help him cope with having participated in the decision to have Shackelford receive the death sentence.
