Tragedy in my 20s made me a better writer, says Harlan Coben
The Guardian|January 06, 2025
The American thriller writer Harlan Coben said experiencing "quite a bit of tragedy" in his 20s made him a better writer.
Rachel Hall
Tragedy in my 20s made me a better writer, says Harlan Coben

The bestselling author, who wrote the Myron Bolitar series and novels-turned-Netflix-shows such as Fool Me Once and the recent release Missing You, said he was in his 20s when his father died of a heart attack at the age of 59 in 1988. Coben, 63, told the Big Issue this was "the most traumatic" loss, "maybe because it was the first one".

He added: "It came out of nowhere. I had quite a bit of tragedy in my 20s. Things moved along fairly smoothly until then, I led a fairly normal American suburban life, but I did something like seven eulogies that decade.

This story is from the January 06, 2025 edition of The Guardian.

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This story is from the January 06, 2025 edition of The Guardian.

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