Toby Olson

Toby Olson (born 1937 Chicago) is an American novelist and winner of the 1983 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

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

Novels

 * Utah
 * The Bitter Half.
 * Tampico. ISBN 978-0-292-71827-2
 * Utah
 * The Bitter Half.
 * Tampico. ISBN 978-0-292-71827-2
 * The Bitter Half.
 * Tampico. ISBN 978-0-292-71827-2
 * The Bitter Half.
 * Tampico. ISBN 978-0-292-71827-2
 * The Bitter Half.
 * Tampico. ISBN 978-0-292-71827-2

Poetry

 * The Wrestlers & other poems. Barlenmir House, 1984