T.C. Boyle, author of NO WAY HOME

T. Coraghessan Boyle is the author of thirty books of fiction, including The Tortilla Curtain, Talk to Me, I Walk Between the Raindrops, and most recently, No Way Home. He received a Ph.D. degree in Nineteenth Century British Literature from the University of Iowa in 1977 and his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1974. His work has been translated into more than two dozen foreign languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian, Farsi, and Vietnamese. His stories have appeared in most of the major American magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper's, and The Atlantic Monthly, and he has been the recipient of many literary awards, including the PEN/Faulkner and the PEN/Malamud. He lives with his family near Santa Barbara.

T.C. Boyle joins Barbara to talk about what he needs to know before he begins writing, how he decides whether an idea fits the short story format or novel, theme, writing multiple point of view characters, concerns that find their way into his work, and more.

For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website.

(Recorded March 27, 2026)

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone
Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)