Michael Chabon (/ˈʃeɪbɒn/ SHAY-bon; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he studied at Carnegie Mellon University for one year before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1984. He subsequently received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine.

Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when he was 24. He followed it with Wonder Boys (1995) and two short-story collections. In 2000, he published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001; John Leonard described it as Chabon's magnum opus.