T.C. BOYLE
I
t’s a Sunday in Montecito, and we’re on a small outdoor
patio in the back of writer-novelist T.C. Boyle’s Frank Lloyd
Wright-designed Prairie-style two-story home. Tom, as he
is most often called by those who know him (T.C. is Thomas
Coraghessan; he was born Thomas John but chose Coraghessan
as a replacement middle name), has thoughtfully set a small table
with goat cheese, Swiss cheese, a baguette, fresh grapes, and a
bottle of Byron Pinot Noir from Santa Maria Valley for us.
The table setting may seem somewhat incongruous, as it
was prepared by the writer himself and not the “help” (he has
none) nor his wife, Karen, who was not home, but T.C. is as
CONVERSATIONS
BY JAMES
BUCKLEY
conventional as he is iconoclastic. A Baby Boomer (1948), T.C.
and Karen have been married for 42 years and they have three
children together: Spencer, whose goal is to become a doctor;
daughter Kerrie and her husband, Jameson, are filmmakers and
split their time between Montecito and Echo Park; son Milo is,
according to dad, “a computer genius,” was recently married and
lives in Westchester County, New York.
Tom has written, at last count, 25 books, has won numerous
awards, the latest being the REA Award (named for Michael M.
Rea, now deceased), and taught creative writing at USC for the
better part of four decades.
26
summer
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