T. Coraghessan Boyle, "my friends call me Tom," was born December 2, 1948 and grew up in Peekskill, New York. He went to the State University of New York at Potsdam to study music (he played the saxophone), switched to a History and English major and found himself drawn to writing after "wandering into a creative writing class in his junior year."
For four years, he taught at his alma mater, Lakeland High School, until his story, "The OD and Hepatitis Railroad or Bust," was published in the North American Review. He won acceptance at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop in 1972. He received his M.F.A. in 1974 and his Ph.D. in 19th Century British Literature in 1977 from the University of Iowa. In 1977 he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
He has been an English professor at University of Southern California since 1978, and established their Creative Writing Program. He has written sixteen books and won the PEN/Faulkner Award for "T.C. Boyle Stories, the Collected Stories" in 1999; for best novel in 1988 for "World's End"; O. Henry Awards in 1989, 1999, 2001 and 2003; was a National Book Award Finalist for "Drop City" in 2003; awarded the Prix Medicis Etranger (Paris) for the best foreign novel of the year in 1997 for "The Tortilla Curtain"; and received the New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice 1989 for "If the River Was Whiskey." His latest books are "Inner Circle" (2004), "Tooth and Claw" (2005) and "Talk Talk" (July 2006)." The book "Tortilla Curtain" is currently being made into a movie.
To have a book chosen for a community read is nirvana for any writer and I am pleased and honored to have been selected for Columbia's program. What most impresses me about the program is that everyone in the community will have a book in common to discuss, a rarity these days. Yes, we can talk about the latest films or TV shows, even sports and politics, but we all read so disparately that it is difficult to find someone with whom to discuss a book. I look forward to coming to town and entertaining all the readers of The Tortilla Curtain--and look forward too to the debates and discussions to which this very provocative book will necessarily give rise.
-T.C. Boyle
He lives in Montecito, a suburb outside of Santa Barbara, with his wife and three children and still teaches when he can at University of Southern California. T.C. Boyle is a writer who believes literature should be accessible to all without needing a reviewer or critic to help explain the mechanics of the story. He is a storyteller with immense compassion, and a wise guy who is known for his satire and his ability
to confront hypocrisy.
-From Carlsbad City Library, CA, "Carlsbad Reads Together" resource guide.
Descent of Man (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1979)
Water Music (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1982)
Budding Prospects (Viking, 1984.
Greasy Lake (Viking, 1985)
World's End (Viking, 1987)
If the River Was Whiskey (Viking, 1989)
East Is East (Viking, 1990)
The Road to Wellville 9Viking, 1993)
Without A Hero (Viking, 1994)
Riven Rock (Viking, 1998)
T.C. Boyle Stories (Viking, 1998)
A Friend of the Earth (Viking, 2000)
After the Plague (Viking, 2001)
Drop City (Viking, 2003)
The Inner Circle (Viking, 2004)
Tooth and Claw (Viking, 2005)
Talk Talk (Viking, July 2006)
