Pauls Harijs Toutonghi (born 1976)[1] is a first-generation American fiction and non-fiction writer. He was born in Seattle, Washington,[1] to immigrant parents. His mother emigrated from Latvia,[2] his father emigrated from Egypt and was of Syrian descent.[3][4][5]
His first novel, Red Weather, was published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books in 2006.[6] His second, Evel Knievel Days, was published by Random House/Crown in 2012.[7]
Red Weather was widely—and favorably—reviewed.[8] Toutonghi has published work in Sports Illustrated, The Burnside Review, Glimmer Train, The Boston Review, One Story Magazine, and The New Yorker.[9] His story, "Regeneration" won a Pushcart Prize in 2000.[10] His 2016 non-fiction narrative, Dog Gone: A Lost Pet's Extraordinary Journey and the Family Who Brought Him Home, was the source for the 2023 Netflix film, Dog Gone.[11]
Toutonghi received his MFA in poetry from Cornell University in 2003, followed by a PhD in English Literature in 2006. After his first novel was published, he moved from Brooklyn, New York to Portland, Oregon, where he now teaches as a Professor of English at Lewis and Clark College, specializing in Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Writing.[12]
My First Early Success. The Quivering Pen, 2012[20]
Our Father’s Body: An Egyptian refugee, the construction of whiteness, and what the U.S. census leaves out. The New Yorker, 2020[3]
Personal life
He is married to the writer Peyton Marshall,[21] and is the father of twins. His sister, Annette Toutonghi,[22] is a professional actor. His father, Joseph Toutonghi, died in December 2017.[3]