"Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us. "

Paul Theroux is a writer best-known for The Great Railway Bazaar, a travelogue about a trip he made by train from Great Britain through Europe South Asia, the South-East Asia, and into Japan. His writing style is renowned for it's rich description of people and places, irony, and misanthropy.

Theroux was the one of seven children as a boy scout and a catholic. He spent much of his teens reading. However, during this time, he never admitted a desire to become a writer. He believed that it was "incompatible with being a man--money is masculinity."

Theroux joined the Peace Corps and taught in Malawi when he finished college. He helped Hasting Banda escape to Uganda, which got him expelled from the Peace Corps. He then moved to Uganda to teach at Makerere University, where he earned tenure. This is were he became friends with V.S. Naipaul who was a visiting scholar.

He published Waldo, his first novel while he was in Uganda. Other novels during this period include, Fong and the Indians and Jungle Lovers.

Theroux moved to London in 1972 and began his journey to Great Britain and Japan, which lent him the experience to publish The Great Railway Bazaar. Since, he has published a number of travel books including, The Old Patagonian Express and Riding the Iron Rooster. Theroux wrote Sir Vidia's Shadow, in account of his friendship with V.S. Naipaul ending abruptly after thirty years.

He often includes members of himself, friends and family in his fiction. Some of his novels have been turned into films including Half Moon Street, The Mosquito Coast and Chinese Box.

Theroux currently resides in Hawaii and is married to Sheila Donnelly. He was married to Anne Castle in 1967; they divorced in 1993 and have two sons: Marcel Theroux and Louis Theroux - both are television presenters.