Richard Garfinkle (born 1961) is an American writer of science fiction. He is best known as the author of Celestial Matters, a novel published by Tor Books, which won the Compton Crook Award in 1997. Garfinkle is a 1992 graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop and was nominated twice for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He has taught at numerous writers' workshops at Windycon, an annual Chicago-area science fiction convention, and at Chicon 2000, the 58th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Chicago. He's married to Alessandra Kelley and has two daughters.