Open Letter to T.C. Boyle

Apologies for posting this letter in such a public forum. I tried sending this to TC Boyle directly, but the email address I had must have been old or abandoned, because it got sent back to me as undeliverable  Hopefully this finds its way to him.


Hello Dr. Boyle,

This is your former student Bryan Bishop. I was a Creative Writing major at USC from 1996-2000. Your name came up recently when another former student of yours - Brad Thor - came on the podcast I work on to promote his new book, "Hidden Order." I read that he (like I) had studied under you at USC. We traded stories for a bit and laughed at what a small world we live in.

Our exchange got me thinking about my experience at USC in your class. Yours was easily one of the best courses I ever took at any level of my education. It was so supremely influential on my life and career choices. To wit: I was more than a little proud to tell Brad that I myself have my first book coming out next summer. It is going to be published by Thomas Dunne Books (a division of St. Martin's Press/Macmillan).

Brad told me you had recently retired from USC. Congratulations, sir, on a magnificent academic career. If you were still employed at the university, I would send a copy of my book to your office (where you and I met on occasion). If you feel comfortable providing me with an address, I would be honored to send you a copy.

Thank you, and congratulations again.

Your student (and fan),
Bryan Bishop