It’s the birthday of Paul Auster, born in Newark, New Jersey (1947).

He is the author of The New York Trilogy (1985-86), a set of idiosyncratic detective stories that deal with questions of identity and existential thought. His memoir is The Invention of Solitude(1982). He has several bestselling books including Travels in the Scriptorium, The Brooklyn Follies, and Oracle Night.

I Thought My Father Was God, the NPR National Story Project anthology, which he edited, was also a national bestseller. His work has been translated into thirty languages.

He lives in Brooklyn, New York

“Becoming a writer is not a ‘career decision’ like becoming a doctor or a policeman. You don’t choose it so much as get chosen, and once you accept the fact that you’re not fit for anything else, you have to be prepared to walk a long, hard road for the rest of your days.”