John Irving (1) (1942–)
Author of A Prayer for Owen Meany
For other authors named John Irving, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
John Irving published his first novel at the age of twenty-six. He has received awards from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation; he has won an O. Henry Award, a National Book Award, and an Academy Award. (Publisher Provided) John Irving was show more born John Wallace Blunt, Jr. on March 2, 1942 in Exeter, New Hampshire. His named was changed to John Winslow Irving when his stepfather adopted him at the age of six. He was a dyslexic child and it took him five years to get through Exeter Academy, which is where his adoptive father taught Russian history. He received a B.A. (cum laude) from the University of New Hampshire in 1965 and an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, in 1967, where he studied with Kurt Vonnegut Jr. His first novel was Setting Free the Bears (1969) but it wasn't until The World According to Garp was published in 1978, that he became a literary star. The novel spent six months on the bestseller list and won the American Book Award in 1980. It was also made into a movie in 1982 starring Robin Williams and costarring Glenn Close and John Lithgow. In 1981, he received an O. Henry Award for the short story Interior Space. Some of his other novels were also made into movies including The Hotel New Hampshire starring Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe; A Prayer for Owen Meany, which was titled Simon Birch starring Jim Carrey; and The Cider House Rules starring Michael Caine. He won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules in 2000. Irving also wrote two memoirs; one detailing his wrestling adventures entitled The Imaginary Girlfriend, and another concerning his novels made into Hollywood films entitled My Movie Business: A Memoir. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by John Irving
Acht Amerikaanse verhalen 17 copies
Amerika, Amerika bloemlezing 8 copies
A Teacher's Guide for a Prayer for Owen Meany: Common-Core Aligned Teacher Materials and a Sample Chapter (2014) 4 copies
Boston Mercy and the Pension Grillparzer/from the World According to Garp/2 Audio Cassettes (1986) 2 copies
Uwolnic niedzwiedzie 1 copy
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest / Thumb Tripping / The End of the Road / The World According to Garp 1 copy
Hotel New Hampshire-V2 1 copy
The Boston Review 1 copy
Hotel New Hampshire-V1 1 copy
Associated Works
For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most (1999) — Contributor — 459 copies, 4 reviews
You've Got to Read This: Contemporary American Writers Introduce Stories that Held Them in Awe (1994) — Introduction — 389 copies, 3 reviews
Lost Classics: Writers on Books Loved and Lost, Overlooked, Under-read, Unavailable, Stolen, Extinct, or Otherwise Out… (2000) — Contributor — 305 copies, 5 reviews
Liefde en bedrog zeven hartstochtelijke verhalen — Contributor — 4 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Irving, John Winslow
- Other names
- Blunt, John Wallace, Jr. (born)
- Birthdate
- 1942-03-02
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Exeter, New Hampshire, USA
- Places of residence
- Exeter, New Hampshire, USA
- Education
- University of New Hampshire
University of Iowa (Iowa Writers' Workshop)
Phillips Exeter Academy
University of Pittsburgh
University of Vienna - Occupations
- novelist
short-story writer
teacher
wrestling coach - Organizations
- American Academy of Arts and Letters ( [2001])
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference - Awards and honors
- Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award (2000)
National Wrestling Hall of Fame (1992)
National Book Award (1980 for The World According to Garp)
Members
Discussions
Takes place in Amsterdam in Name that Book (February 2013)
Group Read: The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving in 75 Books Challenge for 2012 (July 2012)
Group Read: The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving (planning thread) in 75 Books Challenge for 2012 (July 2012)
A Prayer for Owen Meany in Someone explain it to me... (August 2011)
50 States Fiction and Nonfiction Reads in Fifty States Fiction (or Nonfiction) Challenge (April 2011)
Reviews
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
My favorite book by John Irving.
The story is narrated by Owen’s best friend Jonny Wheelwright. Owen is small in stature and speaks in a strange high pitched voice, which makes him unusual and potentially the victim of bullies. But Owen has a “presence” which leads to him having a prominent role in his community. Jonny and Owen’s friendship survives Owen killing Jonny’s mother with a missed timed baseball strick, which results in the baseball string mum on the head.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the unfolding of the lives of Jonny and Owen.… (more)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the unfolding of the lives of Jonny and Owen.… (more)
Father and son relationship - and so much more.
Paired well with “Lincoln in the Bardo.”
Paired well with “Lincoln in the Bardo.”
Lists
Gen X Library (4)
Five star books (1)
Lucy's Long List (15)
Read (1)
Favourite Books (1)
1970s (1)
BBC Big Read (1)
Must-Read Maine (1)
Read These Too (1)
Overdue Podcast (2)
BBC Big Read (2)
Florida (2)
AP Lit (2)
1980s (3)
A Novel Cure (3)
Unread books (5)
Franklit (1)
Page Turners (1)
100 New Classics (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 61
- Also by
- 13
- Members
- 91,961
- Popularity
- #101
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 1,440
- ISBNs
- 1,355
- Languages
- 27
- Favorited
- 671
