Thomas Larson
Thomas Larson is the author of The Memoir and the Memoirist: Reading and Writing Personal Narrative. He lectures and holds workshops on memoir writing throughout the United States. Larson writes personal essays, memoir, book reviews, and literary and music criticism for many publications, among them Gettysburg Review, Antioch Review, New Letters, Fourth Genre, and Free Inquiry. He regularly contributes book reviews for Contrary Magazine online. In the 1980s, he was the music critic for the Santa Fe New Mexican. After getting an undergraduate degree in music composition, he moved to San Diego in 1982 and earned a master's in American literature from UCSD. During the 1990s, he was a professor of English at San Diego City College. Since 1999, he has been a contributing writer for the Reader, where he specializes in feature journalism, narrative nonfiction, and profiles. His twin sons are Jeremy, a graphic designer, who lives in San Diego, and Blake, a poet and photographer, who resides in Oakland. Larson lives in Clairemont with his partner Suzanna. His website is thomaslarson.com.
Recent Stories
Ex Pros
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009
If ever there were a San Diego Charger whose postcareer success has matched his years spent on the field, it’s ...
Puppeteers: Eight powerful San Diegans who don't want to tell you what they do
Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009
The tenth floor of San Diego city hall is like a submarine in the sky. Behind sealed windows and an ...
If We Didn't Advertise We'd Go Broke Treating the Poor
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Many of us watched the Chargers’ season-ending run this past winter and, amid the cheers and groans, saw a 30-second ...
Bertha Bugarin Heads to Jail
Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009
In October 2007, Michael Varga, a police officer assigned to the Chula Vista Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit, began interviewing ...
Why Local Radio Is No Longer Local
Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008
If San Diego has a voice, it may be the plummy bass of Chris Cantore. Until December 2007, the Brooklyn ...
Go Directly to Jail...and Die
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008
Francisco Castaneda came to the United States from El Salvador during its civil war of the 1980s. Fleeing the violence, ...
Intimate Murder
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
In each of the last three years, there were roughly 17,000 murders in the United States. Of these, about 11 ...
How UCSD Spent Over $500,000 on a Home Remodel That Never Happened
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Perhaps the most prized piece of real estate throughout the University of California, San Diego, is the seven-acre site of ...
San Diego's Highest Paid Executives
Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007
San Diego is home to 35 rich executives, almost all white men, who receive millions in compensation for running our ...
Of Course You Qualify!
Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007
Mario is a recent immigrant from Mexico, and he's typical of homeowners facing foreclosure. He doesn't want me to use ...



