Dunn

Born in 1945, Katherine Dunn was an American novelist, journalist, poet, voice artist, radio personality, and book reviewer closely associated with Portland, Oregon. She is most widely remembered for Geek Love (1989), the novel that made her a singular literary presence and earned lasting admiration for its bold, unsettling originality.

Dunn's career reached far beyond fiction. Alongside her novels, she wrote extensively about boxing, a subject she covered with unusual depth and authority. That mix of fierce curiosity, empathy, and fearlessness shaped much of her work, whether she was writing about outsiders, family bonds, or the strange corners of American life.

She died in 2016, but her writing continues to attract new readers. For many people, Dunn remains an author whose work feels impossible to confuse with anyone else's: daring, vivid, and completely her own.