Editing Tom Robbins

{{Short description|American writer (1932–2025)}}
{{About|the American novelist|other uses|Thomas Robbins (disambiguation){{!}}Thomas Robbins}}
{{Distinguish|Tim Robbins}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Tom Robbins
| image            = Tom Robbins.jpg
| caption          = Robbins at Booksmith in [[San Francisco]], 2005
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = Thomas Eugene Robbins
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1932|7|22|mf=yes}}
| birth_place      = [[Blowing Rock, North Carolina]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2025|02|09|1932|07|22|mf=yes}}
| death_place      = [[La Conner, Washington]], U.S.
| occupation       = {{flatlist|
* Novelist
* short story writer
* essayist
}}
| genre            = [[Postmodernism]]
| movement         = 
| spouse           = 
| children         = 
| website          = 
}}

'''Thomas Eugene Robbins''' (July 22, 1932 – February 9, 2025) was an American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "[[comedy drama]]s").<ref>{{cite web|title=Tom Robbins|url=http://www.famousauthors.org/tom-robbins|work=Famous Authors|publisher=FamousAuthors.org|access-date=August 15, 2012|author=FamousAuthors.org|year=2012}}</ref> Robbins had lived in [[La Conner, Washington]], since 1970, where he wrote nine of his books.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Northwest Prime Time |url=http://northwestprimetime.com/news/2016/apr/30/tom-robbins/ |access-date=April 5, 2022 |website=northwestprimetime.com}}</ref> His 1976 novel [[Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (novel)|''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'']] was adapted into the [[Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (film)|1993 film version]] by [[Gus Van Sant]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Sant |first=Gus Van |title=Even Cowgirls Get the Blues |date=May 20, 1994 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106834/ |type=Comedy, Drama, Romance |publisher=New Line Cinema, Fourth Vision |access-date=April 5, 2022}}</ref> His last work, published in 2014, was ''[[Tibetan Peach Pie]]'', a self-declared "un-memoir".

==Early life==
Robbins was born on July 22, 1932,<ref>See ''Library of Congress records'' (2012) and ''Oxford companion to American literature'' (1995). The discrepancy between Robbins's year of birth appearing in the [[Library of Congress]] [[Cataloging in Publication|Cataloging-in-Publication Data]] results from previous inaccurate reporting and the LoC rule prohibiting correction of CIP data. Robbins claimed he was born in 1932 (see ''Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life, 2014'' or ''Conversations With Tom Robbins'', 2011). See [[:File:Thomas Eugene Robbins in the 1940 US census living in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.jpg|Thomas Robbins in the 1940 US census living in Blowing Rock, North Carolina]].</ref> in [[Blowing Rock, North Carolina]], to George Thomas Robbins and Katherine Belle Robinson. Both of his grandfathers were  [[Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptist]] preachers. The Robbins family lived in Blowing Rock before moving to [[Warsaw, Virginia|Warsaw]], [[Virginia]], when the author was still a young boy.<ref name="Tracy">{{cite news|title=A look at author Tom Robbins|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2000/books/news/03/10/tom.robbins/|access-date=April 27, 2013|newspaper=CNN|date=March 10, 2000|author=Tracy Johnson}}</ref> In adulthood, Robbins described his young self as being a "[[hillbilly]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=Tom Robbins|url=http://januarymagazine.com/profiles/robbins.html|work=January Magazine|access-date=April 27, 2013|author=Linda L. Richards}}</ref>

Robbins attended Warsaw High School (class of 1949) and [[Hargrave Military Academy]] in [[Chatham, Virginia]], where he won the Senior Essay Medal. The next year he enrolled at [[Washington and Lee University]] in [[Lexington, Virginia]], to major in journalism, leaving at the end of his sophomore year after being disciplined by his fraternity for bad behavior and failing to earn a letter in basketball.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ringtumphi.net/6785/opinion/tom-robbins-i-may-or-may-not-be-hip-but-i-aint-no-hippie/|title=Tom Robbins: "I may or may not be hip, but I ain't no hippie." - The Ring-tum Phi|first1=Georgia|last1=Bernbaum|date=March 15, 2022}}</ref>

In 1953, he enlisted in the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] after receiving his draft notice, spending a year as a [[meteorologist]] in [[Korea]], followed by two years in the Special Weather Intelligence unit of the [[Strategic Air Command]] in [[Nebraska]]. He was discharged in 1957 and returned to [[Richmond, Virginia]], where his poetry readings at the Rhinoceros Coffee House led to his gaining a reputation on the local bohemian scene.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://northwestprimetime.com/news/2016/apr/30/tom-robbins/|title=Tom Robbins|website=Northwest Prime Time}}</ref>

==Early media work==
In late 1957, Robbins enrolled at [[Richmond Professional Institute]] (RPI), a school of art, drama, and music, which later became [[Virginia Commonwealth University]]. He served as an editor and columnist for the college newspaper, ''Proscript'', from 1958 to 1959.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RPI Student Newspapers {{!}} VCU Libraries Digital Collections |url=https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/pro/ |access-date=May 28, 2024 |website=digital.library.vcu.edu}}</ref> He also worked nights on the sports desk of the daily ''[[Richmond Times-Dispatch]]''.<ref name="Tracy" /> After graduating with honors from RPI in 1959 and indulging in some hitchhiking, Robbins joined the staff of the ''Times-Dispatch'' as a copy editor.<ref>{{cite news |title=From The Village Cafe to Literary Fame: Tom Robbins Dies at 92 |url=https://rvamag.com/news-headlines/richmond-news/from-the-village-cafe-to-literary-fame-tom-robbins-dies-at-92.html |access-date=February 12, 2025 |publisher=RVA Magazine |date=February 11, 2025}}</ref>

[[File:Ad for Notes from the Underground, Tom Robbins show on KRAB radio (1967).jpg|thumb|A 1967 ad for Robbins's KRAB radio show, ''Notes From The Underground'', drawn by [[Walt Crowley]]]]
In 1962, Robbins moved to [[Seattle]] to seek an [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] at the Far East Institute of the [[University of Washington]]. During the next five years in Seattle (minus a year spent in New York City researching a book on [[Jackson Pollock]]) he worked for the ''[[Seattle Times]]'' as an art critic.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robbins|first1=Tom|title=Tibetan peach pie: a true account of an imaginative life|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=9780062267405|pages=167–173|edition=First}}</ref> In 1965, he wrote a column on the arts for ''Seattle Magazine'' as well as occasionally for ''[[Art in America]]'' and ''[[Artforum]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robbins|first1=Tom|title=Tibetan peach pie: a true account of an imaginative life|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=9780062267405|page=184|edition=First}}</ref> Also during this time, he hosted a weekly alternative radio show, ''Notes from the Underground'', at non-commercial [[KSER|KRAB-FM]], Seattle.<ref>{{Cite web |title=KRAB-FM, Seattle - Programs: Notes From The Underground, with Tom Robbins |url=https://www.krabarchive.com/programs/krab-notes-from-the-underground-with-tom-robbins.html |access-date=March 25, 2022 |website=www.krabarchive.com |language=en}}</ref> It was in 1967, while writing a review of the rock band [[The Doors]], that Robbins said he found his literary voice.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Doors And What Thay Did To Me |url=http://doorsmania.narod.ru/History/Whatthay.html |access-date=March 23, 2022 |website=doorsmania.narod.ru}}</ref> While working on his first novel, Robbins worked the weekend copy desk of the ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robbins|first1=Tom|title=Tibetan peach pie: a true account of an imaginative life|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=9780062267405|page=249|edition=First}}</ref> Robbins would remain in Seattle, on and off, for the following forty years.<ref name="Tracy" /><ref name="HarperCollins Publishers">{{cite book|last1=Robbins|first1=Tom|title=Tibetan peach pie: a true account of an imaginative life|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=9780062267405|edition=First}}</ref>

==Writing career==
In 1966, Robbins was contacted by [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]'s [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] editor, Luthor Nichols. Nichols asked Robbins about writing a book on Northwest art. Instead Robbins told Nichols he wanted to write a novel and pitched the idea of what was to become ''[[Another Roadside Attraction]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robbins|first1=Tom|title=Tibetan peach pie: a true account of an imaginative life|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=9780062267405|pages=230–232|edition=First}}</ref> In 1967, Robbins moved to [[South Bend, Washington]], where he wrote his first novel. In 1970, Robbins moved to [[La Conner, Washington]], and it was at his home on Second Street that he subsequently authored nine books (although, in the late 1990s, he spent two years living on the [[Swinomish]] [[Swinomish Indians of the Swinomish Reservation of Washington|Indian reservation]]).
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Robbins regularly published articles and essays in ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' magazine,<ref>{{cite web|title=TOM ROBBINS, writing in Esquire magazine about a C...|url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/rzn20g00|work=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library|publisher=The Regents of the University of California|access-date=April 27, 2013|year=2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 4, 2016 |title=U-MAGAZINE - You Gotta Have Soul - by Tom Robbins by Tom Robbins {{!}} UNIVERSAL METROPOLIS |url=https://www.universalmetropolis.com/magazine/articles.php?articleid=915 |access-date=March 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304133205/https://www.universalmetropolis.com/magazine/articles.php?articleid=915 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 3, 2016 |title=Esquire Magazine June 1996: My Favorite Things - Vollmann, William; Pynchon, Thomas; Robbins, Tom; Robbins, Harold; et. al. |url=http://www.opcit.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3796 |access-date=March 9, 2022 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223215/http://www.opcit.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3796 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and also contributed to ''[[Playboy]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 3, 2016 |title=LA Times Magazine October 2005: Zen-like wisdom from Tom Robbins|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-oct-11-et-book11-story.html|access-date=March 9, 2022 |website=www.latimes.com}}</ref> and ''[[GQ]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2005 |title=Tom Robbins' bold imagination soars in 'Wild Ducks' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/10/14/tom-robbins-bold-imagination-soars-in-wild-ducks/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025225744/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-10-14/features/0510140089_1_wild-ducks-flying-backward-short-writings-tom-robbins |archive-date=October 25, 2015 |access-date=March 9, 2022 |url-status=live |website=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref>

Robbins's 1982 contract with editor Alan Rinzler<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Tom Robbins |url=https://alanrinzler.com/book/tom-robbins/ |access-date=April 1, 2022 |website=alanrinzler.com}}</ref> stipulated that he would accompany Robbins on three holiday trips to resorts Robbins would choose where he could discuss the work-in-progress novel. Rinzler later discovered it was ''[[Jitterbug Perfume]]''.<ref name=":0" /> He later wrote this on the topic of editing for Robbins:

<blockquote>Tom would read out loud from his work in progress, and I would comment. Just a few pages at a time. He was a real southern gentleman, and welcomed intellectual discourse about his theme, characters, and intentions, from the inside. He took the process of conception, research, trial and error, moving things around, changing voices and pitch very seriously, wrote slowly and carefully, revised constantly, developing, refining and evolving this novel over the course of about two years.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>Michael Dare described Robbins's writing style: "When he starts a novel, it works like this. First he writes a sentence. Then he rewrites it again and again, examining each word, making sure of its perfection, finely honing each phrase until it reverberates with the subtle texture of the infinite. Sometimes it takes hours. Sometimes an entire day is devoted to one sentence, which gets marked on and expanded upon in every possible direction until he is satisfied. Then, and only then, does he add a period".<ref>{{cite web|title=Emulsional Problems: How to Write Like Tom Robbins|url=http://www.dareland.com/emulsionalproblems/robbins.htm|work=Dareland|publisher=Michael Dare|access-date=August 15, 2012|author=Michael Dare|year=2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730190435/http://www.dareland.com/emulsionalproblems/robbins.htm|archive-date=July 30, 2012}}</ref> When Robbins was asked to explain his "gift" for storytelling in 2002, he replied:

<blockquote>I'm descended from a long line of preachers and policemen. Now, it's common knowledge that cops are congenital liars, and evangelists spend their lives telling fantastic tales in such a way as to convince otherwise rational people that they're factual. So, I guess I come by my narrative inclinations naturally.<ref>{{Cite news |title=THE GREEN MAN: TOM ROBBINS |language=en-US |work=High Times |url=https://hightimes.com/read/green-man-tom-robbins |access-date=2022-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306124912/https://hightimes.com/read/green-man-tom-robbins |archive-date=6 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

Over the course of his writing career, Robbins delivered readings on four continents, in addition to performances he gave at festivals from [[Seattle]] to [[San Miguel de Allende]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 23, 2008 |title=San Miguel Authors' Sala in San Miguel de Allende |url=http://www.sanmiguelauthors.com/augusttomrobbins.html |access-date=April 1, 2022 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723120927/http://www.sanmiguelauthors.com/augusttomrobbins.html |archive-date=July 23, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Robbins also read at [[Bumbershoot]] in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2, 2014 |title=Bumbershoot - Day 2 - Arsenal, The Head and the Heart, Tom Robbins |url=https://www.northwestmusicscene.net/bumbershoot-day-2-arsenal-head-heart-tom-robbins/ |access-date=April 1, 2022 |website=NorthWest Music Scene |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Recognition==
In 1997, Robbins won the Bumbershoot Golden Umbrella Award for Lifetime Achievement in the arts that is presented annually by the [[Bumbershoot]] arts festival in [[Seattle]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Robbins |first=Tom |date=October 9, 2006 |title=Here in Geoduck Junction |url=https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/here-in-geoduck-junction/ |access-date=March 9, 2022 |website=Seattle Weekly |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2000, Robbins was named one of the 100 Best Writers of the 20th Century by ''[[Writer's Digest]]'' magazine,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/10/tom-robbins-literary-prankster-philosopher-dies-at-92/|title=Tom Robbins, literary prankster-philosopher, dies at 92|website=opb}}</ref> while the legendary Italian critic [[Fernanda Pivano]] called Robbins "the most dangerous writer in the world".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://premium.boingboing.net/p/rip-tom-robbins-author-of-even-cowgirls|title=RIP Tom Robbins, author of "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues"|first=Ellsworth|last=Toohey|website=premium.boingboing.net}}</ref>

In October 2012, Robbins received the 2012 Literary Lifetime Achievement Award from the [[Library of Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 14, 2021 |title=Tom Robbins: Author reflects on writing, Richmond and the many decades since he left {{!}} Richmond Latest News {{!}} richmond.com |url=http://richmond.com/news/tom-robbins-author-reflects-on-writing-richmond-and-the-many/article_09f3a007-9cbd-5b09-98f2-9844539b26e7.html |access-date=March 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414164534/http://richmond.com/news/tom-robbins-author-reflects-on-writing-richmond-and-the-many/article_09f3a007-9cbd-5b09-98f2-9844539b26e7.html |archive-date=April 14, 2021}}</ref> In 2015, he was awarded the [[Willamette Writers]]' Lifetime Achievement Award and received the award at the Gala Awards Event at the Willamette Writers Conference on August 8, 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://willamettewriters.org/tom-robbins-wins-willamette-writers-lifetime-achievement-award/|title=Lifetime Achievement Award Winner - Tom Robbins|first=Jenny|last=Schrader|date=June 8, 2015}}</ref> On September 2, 2023, a "King for a Day" gala and parade was held in Robbins's honor in his hometown of La Conner, Washington. The event also raised money for a children's art program at the local library.<ref>{{Cite web |title=King for a day, La Conner celebrates Tom Robbins |url=https://www.laconnerweeklynews.com/story/2023/09/06/news/king-for-a-day-la-conner-celebrates-tom-robbins/9473.html |access-date=March 5, 2024 |website=La Conner Weekly News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Christian |date=August 24, 2023 |title=Author Tom Robbins' artistic legacy to be celebrated {{!}} Cascadia Daily News |url=https://www.cascadiadaily.com/2023/aug/24/author-tom-robbins-artistic-legacy-to-be-celebrated/ |access-date=March 5, 2024 |website=www.cascadiadaily.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Other activities==
During his brief stint in New York in 1965 Robbins joined the {{ill|New York Filmmakers' Cinematheque|de|Film-Makers' Cinematheque}}.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robbins|first1=Tom|title=Tibetan peach pie: a true account of an imaginative life|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=9780062267405|page=219|edition=First}}</ref> In the mid-1960s, as a member of the Seattle Arts scene, Robbins reviewed art for several publications in Seattle, wrote essays for museum catalogs, organized gallery exhibits, and was the self-described ringleader in a "boisterous neo-Dada gang of guerilla artists, the Shazam Society".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Marks|first1=Ben|title=Rainy Day Psychedelia: Seattle's 1960s Poster Scene About To Get Its Day in the Sun|url=http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/seattles-1960s-poster-scene-about-to-get-its-day-in-the-sun/|website=Collectors Weekly|access-date=August 23, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Robbins|first1=Tom|title=Tibetan peach pie: a true account of an imaginative life|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=9780062267405|pages=234–235|edition=First}}</ref>

Robbins defended, in print, Indian mystic [[Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh|Osho]], although he was never a follower.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 7, 2013 |title=Tom Robbins essay on Shree Bhagwan Rajneesh also known as Osho {{!}} Osho News |url=https://www.oshonews.com/2013/08/07/tom-robbins-on-osho/ |access-date=March 9, 2022}}</ref> Robbins spent three weeks at ceremonial sites in [[Mexico]] and [[Central America]] with mythologist [[Joseph Campbell]], and studied mythology in Greece and Sicily with the poet [[Robert Bly]]. Robbins also traveled to [[Timbuktu]].<ref name="HarperCollins Publishers" /> Robbins was a member of the [[Marijuana Policy Project]]'s advisory board, alongside numerous other notable figures such as [[Jack Black]], [[Ani DiFranco]], [[Tommy Chong]], and [[Jello Biafra]];<ref>{{cite web|title=MPP ADVISORY BOARD|url=http://www.mpp.org/vip/|work=Marijuana Policy Project|access-date=April 27, 2013|year=2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223011150/http://www.mpp.org/vip/|archive-date=February 23, 2012}}</ref> he was honoured at the Laureate Dinner of Seattle's [[Rainier Club]] that has also recognized other local figures, such as Charles Johnson, Stephen Wadsworth, [[Timothy Egan]] and [[August Wilson]];<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=The Rainier Club - Laureate Nominations |url=https://www.therainierclub.com/files/Laureate%20Nomination%202019.pdf |access-date=March 9, 2022 |website=[[Rainier Club]]}}</ref> and he sat on the board of directors of [[The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas]] (formerly 826 Seattle), "a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write."<ref>{{cite web|title=Our Staff & Leadership|url=http://www.826seattle.org/about/our-staff-leadership/|work=826 Seattle|access-date=April 27, 2013|year=2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105222602/http://www.826seattle.org/about/our-staff-leadership/|archive-date=November 5, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=About 826|url=http://www.826seattle.org/about/about-826/|work=826 Seattle|access-date=April 27, 2013|year=2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018202245/http://www.826seattle.org/about/about-826|archive-date=October 18, 2014}}</ref>

Madame Zoe, a Richmond psychic and palm reader who once lived in Richmond's South Side, was fictionalized in Robbins's ''[[Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (novel)|Even Cowgirls Get the Blues]]''. In 2016 Richmond artists Noah Scalin and Thea Duskin recreated her bedroom as an installation in the art gallery at Chop Suey Books in [[Carytown, Richmond, Virginia|Carytown]] in Richmond.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lord|first1=Jo|title=Artists collaborate on visual tribute to Richmond Psychic|publisher=Richmond Times-Dispatch|date=April 28, 2016|location=Richmond, Virginia|page=F6}}</ref> The novel ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'' was adapted into [[Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (film)|a film]] in 1993 by [[Gus Van Sant]], starring [[Uma Thurman]], [[Lorraine Bracco]], and [[Keanu Reeves]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Even Cowgirls Get the Blues - Original Theatrical Trailer | date=July 8, 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Q1VTuna-w |language=en |access-date=March 9, 2022}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Robbins was a friend of [[Terence McKenna]], whose influence appears evident in a couple of his books.<ref>{{cite web|title=Terence McKenna Interview, Part 1|url=http://www.tripzine.com/listing.php?id=terence1|work=Trip|access-date=August 26, 2012|author=James Kent|date=December 2, 2003}}</ref> A main character (Larry Diamond) in ''[[Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas]]'' advocates a theory similar to those of McKenna, involving the history and cultural influences of psychedelic plants. Robbins also spent time with [[Timothy Leary]] and the author said that one of the protagonists in ''[[Jitterbug Perfume]]'' (Wiggs Dannyboy) exhibited certain characteristics of Leary's personality; Robbins acknowledged using [[LSD]] with Leary.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tom Robbins on Acid, Elvis and Uma Thurman|url=http://www.sabotagetimes.com/people/tom-robbins-on-acid-elvis-and-uma-thurman/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110322160230/http://www.sabotagetimes.com/people/tom-robbins-on-acid-elvis-and-uma-thurman/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 22, 2011|work=Sabotage Times|access-date=August 26, 2012|author=Richard Luck|date=March 20, 2011}}</ref>

He was friends with Gus Van Sant, and performed the [[voice-over]] narration in Van Sant's film adaptation of ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues''. He was friends with directors [[Robert Altman]] and [[Alan Rudolph]], as well, and had small speaking parts in five feature films.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tom Robbins |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730478/ |access-date=March 29, 2022 |website=IMDb}}</ref>

Robbins lived in [[La Conner, Washington]], and died there on February 9, 2025, at the age of 92.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gwinn |first=Mary Ann |title=Tom Robbins, bestselling PNW novelist, dies at 92|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/obituaries/robbins-bestselling-pnw-novelist-dies-at-92/ |access-date=February 9, 2025 |work=The Seattle Times |url-access=limited |date=February 9, 2025}}</ref>

==Works==
Robbins was the author of eight published novels. He wrote numerous short stories and essays, mostly collected in the volume ''[[Wild Ducks Flying Backward]]'', and one novella, ''[[B Is for Beer]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=THE COMPLETE(?) TOM ROBBINS BIBLIOGRAPHY|url=http://www.rain.org/~da5e/trbib.html|work=Le AFTRLife: Une aire de jeux Tom Robbins|publisher=Pussy Galore|access-date=August 15, 2012|author=Mike Songster|author2=Matt Cooperberg|author3=Lorin Hawley|date=September 24, 1996|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806001224/http://www.rain.org/~da5e/trbib.html|archive-date=August 6, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Novels===
* ''[[Another Roadside Attraction]]'' (1971; <small>{{ISBN|0-553-34948-1}}</small>)
* ''[[Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (novel)|Even Cowgirls Get the Blues]]'' (1976; <small>{{ISBN|0-395-24305-X}}</small>)
* ''[[Still Life with Woodpecker]]'' (1980; <small>{{ISBN|0-553-27093-1}}</small>)
* ''[[Jitterbug Perfume]]'' (1984; <small>{{ISBN|0-553-05068-0}}</small>)
* ''[[Skinny Legs and All (novel)|Skinny Legs and All]]'' (1990; <small>{{ISBN|0-553-05775-8}}</small>)
* ''[[Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas]]'' (1994; <small>{{ISBN|0-553-07625-6}}</small>)
* ''[[Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates]]'' (2000; <small>{{ISBN|0-553-10775-5}}</small>)
* ''[[Villa Incognito]]'' (2003; <small>{{ISBN|0-553-80332-8}}</small>)

===Collections===
* ''[[Wild Ducks Flying Backward]]'' (a collection of essays, reviews, and short stories, 2005; <small>{{ISBN|0-553-80451-0}}</small>)

===Novellas===
* ''[[B Is for Beer]]'' (2009; <small>{{ISBN|0-06-168727-8}}</small>)

===Nonfiction===
* ''[[Guy Anderson]]'' (monograph—16 pages of biographical notes within a collection of Anderson's work; 1965)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Siegel |first1=Mark |title=Tom Robbins |date=1980 |publisher=Boise State University |isbn=0884300668|page=52}}</ref>
* ''[[Tibetan Peach Pie|Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life]]'' (autobiography, 2014; <small>{{ISBN|9780062267405}}</small>)

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/505319/Tom-Robbins |title=Tom Robbins |year=2012 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition |access-date=January 28, 2012}}
* {{cite web |first=James D. |last=Hart |author2=Phillip W. Leininger |title=Robbins, Tom |work=The Oxford Companion to American Literature |year=1995 |access-date=June 5, 2010 |publisher=Encyclopedia.com |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-RobbinsTom.html}}
* [http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=vcu-cab/vircu00086.xml;query=tom%20robbins;brand=default Tom Robbins Papers], Collection Number M 90, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Gabel |first=Shainee |year=1997 |title=Anthem: An American Road Story |location=New York |publisher=Avon Books |isbn=0-380-97419-3 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Hoyser |first1=Catherine |last2=Stookey |first2=Lorena Laura |year=1997 |title=Tom Robbins: A Critical Companion |url=https://archive.org/details/tomrobbinscritic00hoys |url-access=registration |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-29418-6}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Purdon |editor1-first=Liam O. |editor2-last=Torry |editor2-first=Beef |year=2011 |title=Conversations with Tom Robbins |place=Jackson, Mississippi |publisher=University of Mississippi Press |isbn=978-1-60473-826-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Siegel |first=Mark |title=Tom Robbins |year=1980 |location=Boise |publisher=Boise State University |isbn=0-88430-066-8 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Whitmer |first1=Peter |last2=VanWyngarden |first2=Bruce |year=1987 |title=Aquarius Revisited: Seven Who Created the Sixties Counterculture That Changed America |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-02-627670-2 |oclc=16078039}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}

===Interviews and articles===
* [http://www.realitysandwich.com/syntax_sorcery_interview_tom_robbins The Syntax of Sorcery: An Interview with Tom Robbins] (2012)
* [http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-tom-robbins-13054 Oral history interview with Tom Robbins, 1984 Mar. 3, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution] (1984)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051214162701/http://www.rain.org/~da5e/trbio.html From Blowing Rock to Windy Cliff: A Tentative Chronology]
* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5456 A biographical essay] (2003)
* [http://www.sirbacon.org/4membersonly/robbins.htm Basking Robbins Interview] (1985)
* [http://archive.salon.com/people/feature/2000/03/09/robbins/index.html Salon.com mini-bio] (2000)
* [http://www.seattleweekly.com/2000-05-03/news/tom-robbins-my-life-and-work/ Seattle Weekly interview] (2000)
* [http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2013/07/24/happy-birthday-tom-robbins-time-to-revisit-your-advice-to-writers/ Tom Robbins's advice to writers]
* [http://www.krabarchive.com/programs/krab-notes-from-the-underground-with-tom-robbins.html Notes From the Underground with Tom Robbins; Archives of radio station KRAB, Seattle, July 7, 1967]
* [http://authorsroad.com/TomRobbins.html Video interview with Tom Robbins by The Authors Road]

=== Other websites ===
* [http://aftrlife.blogspot.com Dharma Yum]—Weblog of the AFTRLife
* {{IMDb name|0730478}}
* {{Discogs artist|Tom Robbins}}

{{Tom Robbins|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robbins, Tom}}
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