“I believe you have constructive accidents en route through a novel only because you have mapped a clear way. If you have confidence that you have a clear direction to take, you always have confidence to explore other ways; if they prove to be mere digressions, you'll recognize that and make the necessary revisions.”

American and Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter

John Winslow Irving is an American and Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He is known for fiction that moves between the two countries and for a body of work that has reached readers beyond the page through film and adaptation. Irving writes across novels, short fiction, and screenplays, with a career shaped by both American and Canadian identity. His work is closely associated with storytelling that is broad in scope and attentive to character, family, and the often complicated turns of ordinary life.