How did a kid whose dad grew up in a poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world? On the morning he was born, he nearly died. He worked at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, where he met the singer James Taylor and the poet Robert Lowell. While he toiled in advertising hell, James wrote the ad jingle line “I'm a Toys ‘R' Us Kid.” He once watched James Baldwin and Norman Mailer square off to trade punches at a party. He's only been in love twice. Both times are amazing. How did a boy from small-town New York become the world's most successful writer?