Pauls Toutonghi was born in 1976 in Seattle, Washington.
His fiction has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, One Story Magazine , The Boston Review, Glimmer Train, Book Magazine, Terminus, and other small periodicals. He received a Pushcart Prize for his short story, Regeneration, which appeared in The Boston Review in 2000, when Pauls was twenty-three.
His first novel, Red Weather, was published by Random House in 2006. It was translated into Latvian — and received good reviews in periodicals across the country.
His other writing has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Crab Creek Review, and The Yemen Observer. He is a mongrel — half-Latvian and half-Egyptian. His earliest memories are steeped in linguistic confusion.
He received his MFA in poetry and his PhD in English literature from Cornell University.
In order to support his writing habit, Pauls has worked as a burrito roller, a pizza delivery driver, a waiter in a retirement community, a vendor of vintage baseball jerseys, a project editor for Atlantic Coast Jet, a telemarketer, a sandwich maker, a college professor, a shipping clerk in a medical supply store, and a research assistant for the Complete Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson.
In 2007, Pauls moved from Brooklyn to Portland, Oregon — where he now teaches at Lewis & Clark College.
September 21, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Hello, Pauls. Just recently finished Red Weather; it was recommended to me by a long-time friend who works for Watermark Books in Wichita, Kansas. I enjoyed your book very much, thank you for writing it. My father-in-law is from Riga. He left Latvia for a DP camp in Germany in the 1940s, and is retired from the US Army. His car sports a bumper sticker reading “Svieks!” Bait, of course, for fellow Latvians. Have a great day.
RC Liepins
October 16, 2007 at 4:52 am
I got totally wasted at this place called buehaland
November 1, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Hello Pauls – Congratulations on “Red Weather”! Great to see you’re doing so well! Honestly, I’m not surprised. Having reviewed so many writing submissions while at the NEA when I read your work I knew it would only be a matter of time… (Have yet to read Red Weather but will set some time aside to do so.) I hope to see many more excellent books out of you!
Cheers,
Robert Westover,
Washington, DC
November 5, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Hi Pauls,
This from an ex-student of yours at Gotham. When is your next book coming out? (is it still the one about the Russian ballerina who gets knocked up by a twelve-footed alien with two left feet?) Hope all is well.
marc wezdecki
September 22, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Pauls!
I watched the copy of About A Boy you rented from the Blockbuste in Burlington the other night, here in Dublin. That movie has travelled a long way.
(Pssst. Send me an e-mail, please?)
Love,
Alison
October 16, 2008 at 1:00 am
Dude, I graduated from Garfield 10 years before you did. I, too, went away (to Indiana) and came back (to Vancouver, WA). I became a librarian instead of a writer, though.
My morning book group just discussed Red Weather today, and we found it a rich and quietly moving read. We had special fun with the title, and Stevens’ image of the drunken sailor catching tigers. What voices your characters have, including your narrator. I particularly savored the closing of your epilogue, with its invitation to begin again.
I quietly wonder whether I can afford you as a guest author. Ahem.
January 2, 2009 at 3:33 am
Sveiks! Greetings from the Portland Latvian under the age of 45 crowd. Biruta passed on your name. My friend Tia is having a house warming party on Saturday and is extending an invite. Email me back if you can make it. People are showing up at 3 and trickeling in throughout the night.
- Andrea
January 26, 2009 at 2:54 am
just finished Red Weather. made you think about how I could have been kinder to my father. Maybe I’ll give it to my son to read. great book