Dawn Raffel is the author of critically acclaimed fiction and nonfiction, including the illustrated memoir "The Secret Life of Objects," a Wall Street Journal bestseller featured on Oprah's Summer Reading List and praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as "a lean, brilliant, playful memoir." Her other works include the novel "Carrying the Body" and two story collections, "Further Adventures in the Restless Universe" and "In the Year of Long Division." Her most recent book, "The Strange Case of Dr. Couney," was named one of NPR's great reads of 2018 and received a 2019 Christopher Award for affirming "the highest values of the human spirit."
Raffel's writing has appeared in prominent publications such as O, The Oprah Magazine, BOMB, The San Francisco Chronicle, and numerous anthologies, including "The Best Short Fictions" series and "The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories." With a career spanning editing and teaching, she served as Executive Articles Editor at O, The Oprah Magazine and held senior editorial roles at More magazine and Reader's Digest. She has taught creative writing at Columbia University's MFA program, the Center for Fiction, and international literary seminars in Russia, Canada, and Lithuania.
An independent editor specializing in memoir, short stories, and narrative nonfiction, Raffel continues to contribute to the literary community while maintaining her writing practice. She is also a certified yoga instructor who incorporates embodied creativity into her teaching.