Thomas Coraghessan Boyle has written widely read books such as World’s End, The Tortilla Curtain, Dr. Sex, Water Music, The Road to Wellville and—so far published only in Germany—No Way Home. His works have been translated into two dozen languages, and some have been adapted for film.

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T.C. Boyle was born in New York and grew up in precarious circumstances: both of his parents, immigrants from Ireland, were alcoholics; as a young man he struggled with drug problems himself and barely managed to finish school. During his studies, he discovered his love of writing.

Boyle initially worked as a teacher at his former problem school in order to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War. His first published short story, about his experiences with heroin use, secured him a place in the prestigious Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. Among his teachers there were John Irving and John Cheever.

Boyle earned a doctorate in nineteenth-century English literature, although his dissertation was a collection of short stories, Descent of Man. Shortly thereafter he received a position at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he founded the creative writing program. He taught there until his retirement.

Since his debut novel Water Music, T.C. Boyle has published almost every year—either a novel or a collection of short stories. He lives with his wife Karen Kvashay in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, and has three children.

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Ep. 214: We Don't Need To Put So Much Bandwidth Into Keeping Up Appearances

The Baggage Reclaim Sessions

What keeping up appearances means

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