Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy is the school John Irving attended in Exeter, New Hampshire, and the formative setting in which he acquired the lifelong interests in wrestling and writing that would shape his public and creative identity.

Setting and Education

Irving was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy before continuing his studies at the University of Pittsburgh and the Institute for European Studies in Vienna. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1965 and later earned an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa, where he studied with Kurt Vonnegut. Phillips Exeter Academy thus belongs to the beginning of a broader educational path that extended from New Hampshire to Pittsburgh, Vienna, and Iowa.

Lasting Influence

The school is specifically associated with the early formation of Irving’s two enduring pursuits: wrestling and writing. Their coexistence is reflected in his later distinction as both a novelist and a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 1992. His subsequent election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2001 marked another form of literary recognition. The available account identifies the academy as the place where these interests took hold, without detailing particular teachers, episodes, or school programs.