Charles Palahniuk is an American author known for his transgressive and shocking fiction. He drew from his difficult childhood, volunteering with the homeless and those in hospice, and membership in the subversive Cacophony Society to inform his darkly comedic novels. His breakthrough came with the publication of Fight Club in 1996. Later works like Lullaby and Damned were inspired by personal tragedies like the murder of his father. Palahniuk's unconventional style transformed his pain into critically acclaimed stories that have endured.