Augusten Burroughs

Augusten Burroughs – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Explore the life of Augusten Burroughs — the candid, witty American memoirist and essayist known for Running with Scissors, Dry, and more. Learn about his tumultuous childhood, literary journey, controversies, and memorable quotes.

Introduction

Augusten Xon Burroughs (born Christopher Richter Robison, October 23, 1965) is an American writer best known for his brutally honest and darkly humorous memoirs. His writing frequently grapples with trauma, addiction, family conflict, identity, and survival—rendered with a voice that is vulnerable, sardonic, and deeply human.

Burroughs rose to prominence with his breakout memoir Running with Scissors (2002), which became a bestseller and later a film adaptation. Over the decades, he has published multiple memoirs, essay collections, and a novel. His life and work provoke questions about memory, truth, creativity, and how one survives chaos.

In the sections below, we’ll journey through his early life and traumas, his path into writing, the reception and controversies of his work, his style and persona, selected quotes, lessons one might take, and his legacy today.

Early Life and Family

Augusten Burroughs was born on October 23, 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Christopher Richter Robison, the younger of two sons of Margaret Robison (a poet and writer) and John G. Robison (a philosophy professor). John Elder Robison, who is also a memoirist.

Burroughs’ childhood was unstable. He lived in various towns in Massachusetts: Shutesbury, Amherst, and Northampton.

Burroughs later revealed that under his guardian, he was allowed to drop out of school as early as the sixth grade, and his formal education essentially halted. GED at age 17.

Because of this unstable upbringing, his formative years involved neglect, confusion, exposure to mental illness, emotional abuse, and a lack of safety. These personal traumas furnish central material in his writings.

Entry into Writing & Career Trajectory

Early Career & First Publication

Before his fame as a memoirist, Burroughs first published a novel: Sellevision (2000), a satirical work of fiction about the world of home shopping networks. Sellevision as a way to cope with life and even curb drinking: he recalled a hungover morning when he started writing a few pages that amused him, which led to further output.

After Sellevision, he transitioned toward memoir because he wanted to write from personal truth. His first major memoir success was Running with Scissors (2002), which disclosed his unconventional and traumatic childhood in the Turcotte/“Finch” household.

Following Running with Scissors, Burroughs published:

• Dry (2003): a memoir about his experience with alcoholism, treatment, and sobriety.

• Magical Thinking (2004): an essay collection blending personal stories, reflections, and humor.

• Possible Side Effects (2006): more essays and reflections.

• A Wolf at the Table (2008): a return to deeper family history, particularly his fraught relationship with his father.

• You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas (2009): shorter stories drawn from childhood memories during Christmas.

• This Is How (2012): a kind of hybrid memoir/self-help in which he addresses issues of grief, shame, recovery, and identity.

• Lust & Wonder (2016) and Toil & Trouble (2019): later memoirs depicting subsequent chapters of his life.

• My Little Thief (2023): a children’s book illustrated by Bonnie Lui.

He writes also essays, commentary, and has contributed to various publications.

Style, Voice & Themes

Burroughs is often praised (and sometimes challenged) for his radical honesty—the willingness to unveil his darkest, most embarrassing, painful memories in sharp clarity. His voice is textured with humor (often sardonic), self-deprecating wit, and emotional directness.

Major themes across his work include:

• Trauma and memory: How we remember, how we process pain, and how memory shapes identity.

• Addiction & recovery: His struggles with alcoholism and the journey of sobriety.

• Family dysfunction: Especially mother and father relationships, betrayal, neglect.

• Identity & survival: How an individual survives neglect, violence, emotional abuse, and rebuilds identity.

• Truth and memoir ethics: The boundary between memory, representation, and factual accuracy.

Because his work is so personal, it has often triggered debate about the line between memoir and fiction.

Controversy & Legal Disputes

Running with Scissors led to legal and ethical controversy. The family of Dr. Turcotte (the real person behind Burroughs’ guardian figure) filed a lawsuit alleging defamation, invasion of privacy, and emotional distress.

In 2007, Burroughs and his publisher settled. As part of the settlement:

• The book’s subtitle was changed (in some editions) from “A Memoir” to “A Book.”

• He added an author's note acknowledging that the Turcotte family disagreed with some depictions, and expressing regret for any unintentional harm.

• He maintained that his account was truthful and that he would not alter the text of the memoir.

Some critics have challenged his memory, suggesting exaggeration or fabrication, especially regarding extreme events (e.g. electroshock therapy allegedly misrepresented).

Nonetheless, Burroughs has defended his approach: memory is fallible, he acknowledges conflicting recollections, but insists on his right to tell his story.

Personality, Public Life & Identity

Burroughs is openly gay and has spoken publicly about same-sex marriage, equality, and his personal relationships.

He currently splits his time between New York City and Amherst, Massachusetts.

His public persona oscillates between being a sharp social commentator, a wounded but resilient survivor, and—through humor—someone who turns suffering into art. He does not shy away from self-critique or exposing his insecurities, yet aims to connect with readers by confessing what many conceal.

He has also been frank about writing being a kind of addiction or therapeutic outlet. In interviews he has said that writing helped him maintain sobriety, process emotions, and “park his mind” so it didn’t spiral.

Selected Quotes

Here are some representative quotations that showcase Burroughs’s voice, wit, and emotional terrain:

• “I, myself, am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.”

• “The past does not haunt us. We haunt the past.”

• “Imperfections are attractive when their owners are happy with them.”

• “No matter your spiritual beliefs … sometimes, why is not knowable.”

• “As a writer, you can't allow yourself the luxury of being discouraged … you absolutely must plow forward.”

• “When I ate vanilla frosting straight from the can, I could feel God standing right next to me … watching, smiling, wishing he had a mouth.”

• “Nobody's trying to kill you, Deirdre. You're killing yourself.”

These quotes illustrate his willingness to confront despair, contradiction, pain, and the quest for meaning.

Lessons from Burroughs’s Life & Work

1. Truth can be messy. Burroughs reveals that life is rarely coherent and that writing the self often involves embracing contradictions and confusion.

2. Art as survival. For him, writing is not just a profession but a lifeline—a way to make sense, heal, and assert agency.

3. Memory is contested. His career underscores that memoir is negotiation: between memory, subjectivity, and others’ versions of the past.

4. Courage in vulnerability. He models how revealing one’s wounds can be a bridge to others’ empathy, not shame.

5. Holding others accountable while owning one’s story. He defends that even when others disagree with one’s narrative, the storyteller has a right to publish their perspective.

6. Continuity through change. His later works show that identity and growth persist even after surviving trauma—life doesn’t freeze at the worst moment.

Legacy & Influence

Augusten Burroughs occupies a significant place in contemporary memoir writing. His frank style influenced a generation of writers who seek to merge personal suffering with wit and insight.

Running with Scissors remains his most recognized work (and was adapted into a film in 2006) A Wolf at the Table also reached bestseller lists, showing his capacity to revisit earlier traumas with fresh perspective.

In memoir and creative writing workshops, his work is often cited as an example of how to interweave voice, structure, and emotional stakes.

His commitment to speaking openly on addiction, homosexuality, trauma, mental health, and recovery has also made him a figure in cultural conversations about healing, identity, and artistic courage.

Conclusion

Augusten Burroughs’s writing is not comfortable or pretty—but it’s necessary. He invites readers into the messy interior of memory, grief, addiction, and resilience. He shows how one can build an artistic identity from brokenness, and how vulnerability can become strength.