About John Irving
JOHN IRVING was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He has written sixteen novels over the course of his prolific career, the majority of which have been international bestsellers. In 1980, Irving won a National Book Award for his…
John Irving can be reached through his representatives below. Media & Publishing Simon & Schuster US Knopf Canada Simon & Schuster UK Representation CookeMcDermid Literary Agency Intercontinental Literary Agency Speaking Engagements Lyceum Agency
Superior fiction asks three things of the novelist: Vigorous feeling for life as we live it. Then imaginative force, strong enough to subvert and rebuild unhindered. And then–but this is rare and so essential that we might call it the “reality principle” of fiction– shrewd sense to keep the first two locked in stubborn love with each other –Terrence Des Pres
His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He has written sixteen novels over the course of his prolific career, the majority of which have been international bestsellers. In 1980, Irving won a National Book Award for his novel The World According to Garp. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules.