29 Facts About Tom Robbins

Tom Robbins had lived in La Conner, Washington, since 1970, where he wrote nine of his books.

Tom Robbins was born on July 22,1932, in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to George Thomas Tom Robbins and Katherine Belle Robinson.

The Tom Robbins family lived in Blowing Rock before moving to Warsaw, Virginia, when the author was still a young boy.

Tom Robbins attended Warsaw High School and Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, where he won the Senior Essay Medal.

Tom Robbins was discharged in 1957 and returned to Richmond, Virginia, where his poetry readings at the Rhinoceros Coffee House led to his gaining a reputation on the local bohemian scene.

In late 1957, Tom Robbins enrolled at Richmond Professional Institute, a school of art, drama, and music, which later became Virginia Commonwealth University.

Tom Robbins served as an editor and columnist for the college newspaper, Proscript, from 1958 to 1959.

Tom Robbins worked nights on the sports desk of the daily Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Tom Robbins would remain in Seattle, on and off, for the following forty years.

In 1966, Tom Robbins was contacted by Doubleday's West Coast editor, Luthor Nichols.

Nichols asked Tom Robbins about writing a book on Northwest art.

In 1967, Tom Robbins moved to South Bend, Washington, where he wrote his first novel.

In 1970, Tom Robbins moved to La Conner, Washington, and it was at his home on Second Street that he subsequently authored nine books.

Tom Robbins later wrote this on the topic of editing for Robbins:.

Tom Robbins would read out loud from his work in progress, and I would comment.

Tom Robbins was a real southern gentleman, and welcomed intellectual discourse about his theme, characters, and intentions, from the inside.

Tom Robbins took the process of conception, research, trial and error, moving things around, changing voices and pitch very seriously, wrote slowly and carefully, revised constantly, developing, refining and evolving this novel over the course of about two years.

When Tom Robbins was asked to explain his "gift" for storytelling in 2002, he replied:.

In 1997, Tom Robbins won the Bumbershoot Golden Umbrella Award for Lifetime Achievement in the arts that is presented annually by the Bumbershoot arts festival in Seattle.

In 2000, Tom Robbins was named one of the 100 Best Writers of the 20th Century by Writer's Digest magazine, while the legendary Italian critic Fernanda Pivano called Tom Robbins "the most dangerous writer in the world".

In October 2012, Tom Robbins received the 2012 Literary Lifetime Achievement Award from the Library of Virginia.

Tom Robbins defended, in print, Indian mystic Osho, although he was never a follower.

Tom Robbins spent three weeks at ceremonial sites in Mexico and Central America with mythologist Joseph Campbell, and studied mythology in Greece and Sicily with the poet Robert Bly.

Tom Robbins was a friend of Terence McKenna, whose influence appears evident in a couple of his books.

Tom Robbins spent time with Timothy Leary and the author said that one of the protagonists in Jitterbug Perfume exhibited certain characteristics of Leary's personality; Tom Robbins acknowledged using LSD with Leary.

Tom Robbins was friends with Gus Van Sant, and performed the voice-over narration in Van Sant's film adaptation of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

Tom Robbins was friends with directors Robert Altman and Alan Rudolph, as well, and had small speaking parts in five feature films.

Tom Robbins lived in La Conner, Washington, and died there on February 9,2025, at the age of 92.

Tom Robbins wrote numerous short stories and essays, mostly collected in the volume Wild Ducks Flying Backward, and one novella, B Is for Beer.