John Irving facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Irving
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Irving in 2010
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| Born | John Wallace Blunt Jr. March 2, 1942 Exeter, New Hampshire, U.S. |
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| Notable awards | Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay National Book Award for Paperback General Fiction for The World According to Garp |
John Winslow Irving, born John Wallace Blunt Jr. on March 2, 1942, is a famous writer from America and Canada. He writes novels, short stories, and movie scripts.
Irving became very well-known after his fourth novel, The World According to Garp, became a huge success in 1978. Many of his books, like The Hotel New Hampshire (1981), The Cider House Rules (1985), A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989), and A Widow for One Year (1998), have been bestsellers. He even won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2000 for his script for the movie The Cider House Rules.
Several of his novels have been turned into movies. These include The World According to Garp (1982), The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), Simon Birch (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), and The Door in the Floor (2004). Many of Irving's stories are set in New England, in towns that sound a lot like Exeter, New Hampshire.
Contents
Early Life and Education
John Irving was born in Exeter, New Hampshire. He was raised by his mother and stepfather, Colin Franklin Newell Irving. His stepfather was a teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy.
John Irving was very involved in wrestling when he was a student at Phillips Exeter. He was a student athlete and later an assistant coach. Wrestling is a big part of his books and his life. While at Exeter, he was taught by the author Frederick Buechner. Irving has dyslexia, which means he sometimes has difficulty with reading.
Irving never met his biological father, who was a pilot during World War II. His father's experience of being shot down in 1943 was included in Irving's novel The Cider House Rules. Irving learned about his father's story when he was almost 40 years old.
A Writer's Journey
Irving started his writing career at age 26. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968. It received good reviews but did not become widely popular. He studied writing at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in the late 1960s. His next two novels, The Water-Method Man (1972) and The 158-Pound Marriage (1974), also had similar success.
The Success of Garp
In 1978, Irving published his fourth novel, The World According to Garp. This book became an international bestseller and a huge cultural event. It was nominated for a major award in 1979 and won another award for its paperback edition the next year.
Garp was later made into a movie directed by George Roy Hill. It starred Robin Williams and Glenn Close. The movie received several Academy Award nominations. John Irving even had a small role in the film as a wrestling referee. The World According to Garp made Irving a very famous writer, and his books after that also became bestsellers.
More Popular Novels
His next book was The Hotel New Hampshire (1981). It sold very well and was quickly made into a movie starring Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe.
In 1985, Irving published The Cider House Rules. This long story is set in a Maine orphanage and talks about important topics. Many people compared it to Charles Dickens' classic book Oliver Twist.
Irving's next novel was A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989). This book is another big family story set in New England. It explores themes of religion and takes place in a boarding school and in Toronto, Ontario. Owen Meany became Irving's best-selling book since Garp.
He continued to write popular books like A Son of the Circus (1995) and A Widow for One Year (1998). A Widow for One Year was named a notable book by The New York Times.
Winning an Academy Award
In 1999, after almost 10 years of planning, Irving's script for The Cider House Rules was made into a movie. It starred Michael Caine, Tobey Maguire, and Charlize Theron. Irving also had a small role in this film. The movie was nominated for several Academy Awards, and Irving won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Irving wrote a book called My Movie Business. It is a memoir about his experiences making the film version of The Cider House Rules.
His 10th book, The Fourth Hand (2001), also became a bestseller. In 2004, a children's picture book called A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound was published. It was originally part of A Widow for One Year. Irving's 11th novel, Until I Find You, came out in 2005.
In his 12th novel, Last Night in Twisted River (2009), the main character is a novelist whose career is similar to Irving's own.
John Irving has had four novels reach number one on The New York Times bestseller list. These include The Hotel New Hampshire, The Cider House Rules, A Widow for One Year, and The Fourth Hand.
Other Projects and Interests
Before Garp made him wealthy, Irving sometimes taught at colleges. He also worked as an assistant coach for his sons' high school wrestling teams until he was 47. In 1992, Irving was honored by being inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum.
Besides his novels, he has published other writings. These include Trying to Save Piggy Sneed (1996), which is a collection of his short stories and a short memoir. He also wrote The Imaginary Girlfriend, a memoir about writing and wrestling.
In 2000, Irving worked on a screenplay for a movie based on his novel A Widow for One Year. This movie became The Door in the Floor, released in 2004.
In 2002, four of his most famous novels were published in special editions. These were The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and A Widow for One Year. Owen Meany was adapted into the 1998 film Simon Birch. Irving asked for the title and character names to be changed because the movie's story was quite different from the book. However, he did enjoy the film.
In 2005, Irving received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.
In 2009, Irving started working on his 13th novel, In One Person (2012). This book is told from the point of view of a 60-year-old character looking back on his life. In 2013, he won an award for In One Person and was also honored for being a supporter of the LGBT community.
His 14th novel, Avenue of Mysteries, was published in 2015. In 2017, Irving was working on a TV series based on The World According to Garp. He also revealed that his 15th novel would be a ghost story. This novel, titled The Last Chairlift, was published in October 2022.
In 2018, Irving received a special award at the Dayton Literary Peace Prize gala.
Works
Novels
- Setting Free the Bears (1968)
- The Water-Method Man (1972)
- The 158-Pound Marriage (1974)
- The World According to Garp (1978)
- The Hotel New Hampshire (1981)
- The Cider House Rules (1985)
- A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989)
- A Son of the Circus (1994)
- A Widow for One Year (1998)
- The Fourth Hand (2001)
- Until I Find You (2005)
- Last Night in Twisted River (2009)
- In One Person (2012)
- Avenue of Mysteries (2015)
- The Last Chairlift (2022)
- Queen Esther (2025)
Short Stories
- Trying to Save Piggy Sneed (1996)
Other Writings
- The Cider House Rules: A Screenplay (1999)
- A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound (children's book) (2004)
- The Imaginary Girlfriend (1995)
- My Movie Business (1999)
Movies Based on His Books
- The World According to Garp (1982)
- The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)
- Simon Birch (1998) (based partly on A Prayer for Owen Meany)
- The Cider House Rules (1999)
- The Door in the Floor (2004) (based on A Widow for One Year)
Personal Life
John Irving married Shyla Leary in 1964. They had two sons, Colin and Brendan, before they divorced in the early 1980s. In 1987, he married Janet Turnbull, who was his publisher and is now one of his literary agents. They have one daughter, Eva Everett Irving.
Irving has homes in Toronto and Pointe au Baril, Ontario. In December 2019, he became a Canadian citizen. He has said he plans to keep his U.S. citizenship as well.
In 2007, Irving was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had surgery.
See also
In Spanish: John Irving para niños
