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John Irving

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John Irving
Irving in Cologne, Germany, September 14, 2010
Irving in Cologne, Germany, September 14, 2010
BornJohn Wallace Blunt Jr.
(1942-03-02) March 2, 1942 (age 82)
Exeter, New Hampshire, U.S.
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • screenwriter
Alma mater
Notable works
Notable awardsAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Award for paperback general Fiction for The World According to Garp
Website
john-irving.com

John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.

Irving was born in Exeter, New Hampshire. His parents divorced before he was born. His name was changed when his mother married again. His step-father was a teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy. When he graduated from there, Irving went to the University of Pittsburgh. After one year there, he went to study in Vienna, Austria. He came back to the United States to study at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. One of his teachers there was Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. In Iowa, he wrote his first novel, Setting Free the Bears.[1]

He became well-known in 1978 when The World According to Garp came out. It was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 1979.[2] In 1999 he won an Academy Award for his screenplay of his novel The Cider House Rules.[3] In 2018, he won the Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award.[4]

  • Setting Free the Bears (1968)
  • The Water-Method Man (1972)
  • The 158-Pound Marriage (1974)
  • The World According to Garp (1978)
  • The Hotel New Hampshire (1981)
  • The Cider House Rules (1985)
  • A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989)
  • A Son of the Circus (1994)
  • Trying to Save Piggy Sneed (1996)
  • A Widow for One Year (1998)
  • The Fourth Hand (2001)
  • Until I Find You (2005)
  • Last Night in Twisted River (2009)
  • In One Person (2012)
  • Avenue of Mysteries (2015)
  • The Last Chairlift (2022)

References

[change | change source]
  1. Champion, Laurie (2004). "Irving, John". Oxford Reference - The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  2. "National Book Awards 1979". National Book Foundation. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  3. "2000 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  4. "2018 – Dayton Literary Peace Prize". Retrieved January 29, 2023.