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called him "the rare writer equally gifted at drawing people's emotional maps...and creating sidesplitting scenes". For his part, Perrotta describes himself as a writer in the "plain-language
American tradition" of authors such as
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My paternal grandparents were
Italian immigrants from a village near Avellino. I grew up hearing them and my dad talk Italian. My mother's relatives were Albanians, but they, too, lived in Italy before emigrating to the
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448:, the screenplay is "a shameless comedy a 40-something dermatologist who goes on spring break". In January 2007, Perrotta was on the guest faculty for the third annual Writers in Paradise conference at
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He was born in 1961 in
Garwood, where he spent his entire childhood. His father was an Italian postal worker, his mother an Albanian-Italian - "that made her a second-class Italian" - secretary.
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immigrant former secretary, who stayed home to raise him along with his older brother and younger sister. Perrotta enjoyed reading authors such as
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While teaching creative writing at Yale, Perrotta completed three novels that he had trouble getting published. One was
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as a 2007 Notable Book of the Year. As of
October 2007, he was working on a film adaptation of the book with
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In 2010, 30,000 copies of his short story "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face" were distributed as part of the
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Perrotta married writer Mary
Granfield in 1991, and they have two children. As of 2019, the couple lives in
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whose characters even at their most ridiculous seem blessed and ennobled by a luminous human aura", and
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that began running in 2014 to critical acclaim for three seasons. He later adapted his 2017 novel,
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was
Perrotta's "breakout book", featured on numerous "Best Books of 2004" listsâincluding those of
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166:(born August 13, 1961) is an American novelist and screenwriter best known for his novels
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San
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Audio: Tom
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Damon
Lindelof & Tom Perrotta's âLeftoversâ Gets Pilot Order At HBO
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in 1979, where he was involved in the school's literary magazine,
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Alexander, Kevin. "Suburban
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178:(2004), both of which were made into critically acclaimed,
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magazineâand garnering tremendous praise for Perrotta.
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1016:, Official Web Site. Retrieved on October 20, 2007.
343:was optioned as a screenplay in 1996 by director
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1060:"The Leftovers - By Tom Perrotta - Book Review"
899:, Official Web Site. Retrieved on July 4, 2007.
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1029:. Kirkusreviews.com. Retrieved on 2014-06-05.
726:"A Writer's Search for the Sex in Abstinence"
456:. Perrotta was invited to teach at Eckerd by
284:. While at Syracuse, Perrotta was a pupil of
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202:. He is also known for his novel
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617:"The Weiner Man" (1988)
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580:The Abstinence Teacher
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295:, a suburb of Boston.
293:Belmont, Massachusetts
867:"From page to screen"
620:"Wild Kingdom" (1988)
604:Tracy Flick Can't Win
396:National Public Radio
1238:Paul Thomas Anderson
890:"About Tom Perrotta"
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871:St. Petersburg Times
829:Entertainment Weekly
629:"Kiddie Pool" (2006)
502:Boston Book Festival
494:Little Miss Sunshine
1403:Yale College alumni
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511:adapted his novel,
329:coming-of-age novel
324:The Washington Post
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230:Garwood, New Jersey
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467:Perrotta's novel,
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226:Summit, New Jersey
164:Thomas R. Perrotta
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1200:Wes Anderson
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599:(2017)
591:(2011)
583:(2007)
575:(2004)
567:(2000)
561:(1998)
553:(1997)
545:Novels
416:People
401:People
398:, and
321:which
299:Career
262:Pariah
252:, and
115:Spouse
107:Period
61:, U.S.
462:Maine
272:from
190:with
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1281:and
1265:and
1218:and
1202:and
1180:and
1121:IMDb
1085:ISBN
926:2022
842:2021
762:2013
700:2013
423:and
355:and
278:M.A.
266:B.A.
155:.net
43:Born
1119:at
520:HBO
452:in
268:in
214:HBO
212:on
186:of
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969:^
941:,
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128:m.
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516:,
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