VJ Books Presents Author Tom Robbins!
 Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins (born July 22, 1936) is an American author. His best-selling novels are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy-drama"), often wildly poetic stories with a strong social and philosophical undercurrent, an irreverent bent, and scenes extrapolated from carefully researched bizarre facts. His novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was made into a movie in 1993 by Gus Van Sant and stars Uma Thurman, Lorraine Bracco, and Keanu Reeves.
Robbins graduated in 1950 from Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, where he won the Senior Essay Medal. The following year he enrolled at Washington and Lee University to major in journalism.
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 Nebraska. He was discharged in 1957 and returned to Richmond, Virginia.
In late 1957, Robbins enrolled at Richmond Professional Institute, a school of art, drama, and music, which later became Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). After graduating with honors from VCU in 1959, 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 Washington. During the next five years in Seattle (minus a year spent in New York city researching a book on the painter, Jackson Pollock) he worked for the Seattle Times as an art critic
It was in 1967, while writing a review of the rock band The Doors, that Robbins says he found his literary voice. Robbins would remain in Seattle, on and off, for the following forty years.
Robbins has been married to Alexa D'Avalon since 1987 and continues to live in La Conner with Alexa and their dog, Blini Tomato Titanium. He has three sons, Rip, Kirk, and Fleetwood, all from previous marriages.
Similar authors: Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Moore, Chuck Palahniuk, David Sedaris, .
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Tom Robbins Bibliography
Novels
- Another Roadside Attraction (1971)
- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976)
- Still Life with Woodpecker (1980)
- Jitterbug Perfume (1984)
- Skinny Legs and All (1990)
- Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (1994)
- Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates (2000)
- Villa Incognito (2003)
Collection
Wild Ducks Flying Backward (2005) — a collection of essays, reviews, and short stories.
Novella
B Is for Beer (2009)
AWARDS AND HONORS
- In 1997, 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, 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 Robbins "the most dangerous writer in the world".
- In October 2012, Robbins received the 2012 Literary Lifetime Achievement Award from the Library of Virginia.
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