Tom Robbins is one of my two most favorite authors of all time (Chuck Palahniuk is the other.)
Thomas Eugene Robbins (b.7/22/32) — yes, he will be 91 this year! — is a best-selling and prolific American novelist. His most notable works are “seriocomedies” (also known as “comedy drama”), such as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Tom Robbins has lived in La Conner, Washington since 1970, where he has written nine best-selling books. His latest work, published in 2014, is Tibetan Peach Pie, which is a self-declared “un-memoir”.
Robbins was born in Blowing Rock, NC, to George Thomas Robbins and Katherine Belle Robinson. Both of his grandfathers were Baptist preachers. The Robbins family moved to Warsaw, VA, when the author was still a young boy.
Robbins attended Warsaw High School (class of 1949) and Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, VA, where he won the Senior Essay Medal. The following year he enrolled at Washington and Lee University to major in journalism, leaving at the end of his sophomore year after being disciplined by his fraternity for bad behavior and failing to earn a letter in basketball.
In 1953, he enlisted in the Air Force after receiving his draft notice, spending a year as a meteorologist in Korea, followed by two years in the Special Weather Intelligence unit of the Strategic Air Command in NE. He was discharged in 1957 and returned to Richmond, VA, where his poetry readings at the Rhinoceros Coffee House led to a reputation among the local bohemian scene.
In late 1957, Robbins enrolled at Richmond Professional Institute (RPI), a school of art, drama, and music, which later became Virginia Commonwealth University. He served as an editor and columnist for the college newspaper, Proscript, from 1958 to 1959. He also worked nights on the sports desk of the daily Richmond Times-Dispatch. After graduating with honors from RPI in 1959 and indulging in some hitchhiking, Robbins joined the staff of the Times-Dispatch as a copy editor.
In 1962, Robbins moved to Seattle to seek an M.A. at the Far East Institute of the University of WA. During the next five years in Seattle (minus a year spent in New York city researching a book on Jackson Pollock) he worked for the Seattle Times as an art critic. In 1965, he wrote a column on the arts for Seattle Magazine as well as occasionally for Art in America and Artforum. Also during this time, he hosted a weekly alternative radio show, Notes from the Underground, at non-commercial KRAB-FM, Seattle. It was in 1967, while writing a review of the rock band The Doors, that Robbins says he found his literary voice. While working on his first novel, Robbins worked the weekend copy desk of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Robbins would remain in Seattle, on and off, for the following forty years.
In 1966, Robbins was contacted and then met with Doubleday’s West Coast Editor, Luthor Nichols, who asked Robbins about writing a book on Northwest art. Instead Robbins told Nichols he wanted to write a novel and pitched the idea of what was to become Another Roadside Attraction.
In 1967, Robbins moved to South Bend, Washington, where he wrote his first novel. In 1970, Robbins moved to La Conner, Washington, and it was at his home on Second Street that he subsequently authored nine books (although, in the late 1990s, he spent two years living on the Swinomish Indian reservation.) – wikipedia
36-minute doc from 2011 with Tom:
Tao Talk 
Awesome quote, I’ve heard about Tom Robbins but never got around to actually reading his work.
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Jay, you need to seek out his work. Glad you like the quote.
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A lovely tribute Lisa. Hard to believe is going to be 91. 💞
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I know! He was close to 80 in this interview. Mind sharp as a tack. Good writing advice also!
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Love that and yes for sure it is! ❣️
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I can relate to that post! I knew I heard his name before…thanks for the bio.
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I think you live that philosophy, Max. Happy to share info on this writer. If you can read just one of his books you will be hooked.
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Yes I do Lisa…I do pretty much live by it. Ok…I’ll check it out.
Whew…I never take naps but today I did!
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You must have needed one. Your body knows. I bet you could find one of his books as audiobook. Jitterbug Perfume is a good one to start with.
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Ok…I have audible so it probably is on there.
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I think that’s helpful.
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Whoops — I was referring to his advice for writers.
As for people or the word “weird” generally, I can refer to a person as weird and mean it as a good thing. Or I can mean it as bad (whether in a more unacceptable way or simply disliked or uncanny). Yet, I don’t generally feel like weird is bad. Then, again, I just a few minutes ago used it (at our friend fandango’s site) tending toward disliked for any stretch of extended time. I’ll have to think about my use of this word. I used it yesterday, too, to label a cousin’s reaction to something I texted her (that she thought it was weird). She disagreed that she thought it was weird. I do think her reaction was weird, though. I’m learning some things about these two cousins (sisters).
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LOL wonderful response. I definitely don’t connote weird as bad but I’m sure there are many who do. I see it as being different. Seems like you do also.
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That’s a good quote! Many folks are quick to label somebody as weird just because that person looks and acts differently. But who’s really to say what’s “normal” and what’s “weird”. Plus, if everybody thought and acted the same way, our world would be very boring!
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Your mind and mine align on this one. I recognized a long time ago that I was “weird” and it caused me a lot of anguish over many years. Now I revel in it and am ecstatic to know I’m not alone in my weirdness. Just like Tom Robbins said in the interview, he’s much more articulate on the page than in conversation and that works for me. If you get a chance check out the video and you will feel the magic in this man.
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A very wise quote! Instead of putting labels, we should try to understand people
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Sadje, the world would be a much happier place for humans if we all practiced that philosophy.
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So true my friend.
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That quote made me laugh. But he’s exactly right. I never knew he started out as an art critic. Thanks for the info. (K)
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He’s a magic man, one of a kind. That link to the place he used to read at as a student is an interesting article and the video is pure gold. You’re welcome, K.
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