“If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.”
John Irving (1942- )
A fellow New Hampshire native, Irving spent most of his early life on the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy where his step-father was a faculty member. He studied writing with Kurt Vonnegut, among others, at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and taught English at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Although his early novels were well received, it was not until the 1979 publication of The World According to Garp that he attained best-seller status. He has written 13 novels including Cider House Rules, one of several made into motion pictures, and A Prayer for Owen Meany, my personal favorite. He has won an Academy Award for screenwriting and has been nominated for the National Book Award several times. Reportedly at work on a 14th novel, Irving divides his time between homes in Vermont and Canada.