Robert Persig is the author of the novel "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", which has been translated into more than thirty languages, and was made into a critically acclaimed film by Robert B. Weide. His other novels include "The Last Picture Show", which was made into an award winning movie starring Peter Bogdanovich, and "Tinkers", which was nominated for an Academy Award. He is also the author of two collections of essays, "Life Is A Miracle" and "The Invention of Solitude"
Read more
He has written for many notable publications including The New Yorker, Harper's, Mother Jones, Time, Reader's Digest, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone and National Geographic.
Persig read philosophy at Harvard University and wrote his first novel at Columbia University. After graduating from Harvard University in 1968 with a PhD in philosophy he taught at the Universities of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Yale. He then spent seventeen years as professor of English at Princeton University before leaving to write full-time.
Persig lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Mary Jean (who works as a writer), where they enjoy hiking in the hills near Telegraph Avenue.
They have four adult children: Elizabeth Persig, a novelist; Alice Persig, a professional graphic designer; Matthew Persig, a physician; and Nicholas Persig, a mathematician.
