Toby Olson (born 1937 Chicago) is an American novelist.

Contents

• 1 Life
• 2 Awards
• 3 Works
  • 3.1 Novels
  • 3.2 Poetry
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Life

Through high school and his four years in the Navy as a surgical technician, he lived in California, Arizona, and Texas.

He graduated from Occidental College and Long Island University.

He co-founded and taught at the Aspen Writers' Workshop, and at Long Island University and The New School For Social Research, and since 1975 Temple University.

Recently, he has collaborated with composer Paul Epstein, including chamber music, songs, a short story set for voice and piano, and two chamber operas, Dorit, and Chihuahua. Both operas were performed by the Temple University Opera Theater.

He lives in Philadelphia and North Truro, on Cape Cod.

Awards

• 1983 PEN/Faulkner Award, for Seaview
• 1985 Guggenheim Fellowships
• 2015 Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards
• Rockefeller Foundations
• National Endowment for the Arts

Works

Novels

• Changing Appearance. Membrane. 1975. ISBN:0-87924-021-0.
• The Life of Jesus. New Directions. 1976. ISBN:0-8112-0614-9.
• Aesthetics. Membrane. 1978. ISBN:0-87924-049-0.
• Seaview. New Directions. 1982. ISBN:0-8112-0828-1.
• The Woman Who Escaped From Shame. Random House. 1986. ISBN:978-0-394-54715-2.
• Utah
• Dorit in Lesbos. Linden Press/Simon & Schuster. 1990. ISBN:978-0-671-68486-0.
• At Sea. Simon & Schuster. 1993. ISBN:978-0-671-73641-5.
• Write Letter to Billy. Coffee House Press. 2000. ISBN:978-1-56689-103-5.
• The Blond Box. FC2. 2004. ISBN:978-1-57366-110-2.
• The Bitter Half.
• Tampico. ISBN:978-0-292-71827-2

Poetry

• The Wrestlers & other poems. Barlenmir House, 1984
• We are the fire: a selection of poems. New Directions Publishing. 1984. ISBN:978-0-8112-0914-4. Toby Olson.
• Unfinished Building. Coffee House Press. 1993. ISBN:978-1-56689-009-0. Toby Olson.
• Human Nature. New Directions. 2000. ISBN:978-0-8112-1440-7.

References

External links

• Works by or about Toby Olson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• "Toby Olson", Shearsman Books
• Toby Olson letters to Carl Thayler collection held by Special Collections, University of Delaware Library