John Irving

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Credit Kevin Flynn for NHPR

John Irving on stage with Virginia Prescott at The Music Hall in Portsmouth.

From the youth spent at Philips Exeter Academy that pervades his body of work, through his studies with Kurt Vonnegut at the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop – known for producing authors the like of Pulitzer winners John Cheever and Philip Roth - John Winslow Irving has emerged as a true literary heavyweight, distinctly American of voice, and one of the most influential cultural exports to come out of New Hampshire. A master of the multivalent, many-layered “story-within-a-story,” Irving explores difficulties prevalent in our modern interpersonal connections and gives voice to the “outsider.”

Now, the author of The World According to Garp, The Hotel New Hampshire, A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Cider House Rules comes home to NH with his new book, the New York Times bestseller In One Person, a compelling and affecting exploration of sexuality, identity, and longing.

In this revealing and deeply personal program, Irving reads from his latest novel, In One Person, and then sits down to talk about his process, his lack of tolerance for intolerance, and the book he's working on now.

Writers On A New England Stage is a partnership between New Hampshire Public Radio and The Music Hall.