Best of - John Irving: A Literary Life

2022 was a big year for John Irving, the author of "The World According to Garp," "A Prayer for Owen Meany," and "The Cider House Rules." He turned 80, and just recently published The Last Chairlift, his first novel in seven years. It is 913 pages long and is, he says, the last long book he will ever write. Seemed like a great time to bring back our 2016 episode on John Irving. In it, he talks about why he approaches every book by writing the last sentence first. And he might just convince you that his uncommon approach is the only one that makes any sense. In this episode, he also opens up about his early life, and reveals how his mysteriously absent father, his learning disability, and his passion for wrestling, all contributed to his success as a writer. Whether you've read every John Irving novel or none, this is a fascinating story about the writing process, and about an author some critics have called the Charles Dickens of our time. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2016-2022

You can listen to Best of - John Irving: A Literary Life online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Best of - John Irving: A Literary Life is an episode from What It Takes by Academy of Achievement.

This episode is 00:30:00 long.

This episode was published on Dec 5, 2022.

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