Tom Robbins (1932-) is an American author based in Seattle who has published eight novels in a style described as satirical, non-linear, and often wildly poetic. He is probably best known for published in 1976 and made into a 1993 film that starred Uma Thurman and a large cast of notable stars. Robbins was the narrator of the film. He has also published a children's book and a collection of non-fiction essays, reviews, and short stories

Robbins was born July 22, 1932 in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. His parents were George Thomas Robbins and Katherine Belle Robinson. He has two younger sisters. The Robbins family moved to Warsaw, Virginia in 1942. After he graduated in 1950 from Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, Robbins enrolled at Washington and Lee University. He left that school after his sophomore year and enlisted in the Air Force in 1953. He spent a year in Korea and two years in the Special Weather Intelligence unit of the Strategic Air Command in Nebraska. He was discharged in 1957 and returned to Virginia where he enrolled at Richmond Professional Institute (RPI is the forerunner to Virginia Commonwealth University).

Robbins lived in Richmond's Fan District and became part of the local bohemian art scene. He was a regular at a number of bars on W. Grace Street, including the Village Cafe. He was an editor for the RPI student newspaper, the . He also wrote columns for the paper, and , which contained early elements of his characteristic irreverent writing style.

He graduated from RPI with a degree in journalism in 1959. He worked briefly for the as a copy editor before moving to Seattle in 1962 to seek a Master's degree at the Far East Institute of the University of Washington. In Seattle for the next several years he held a number of jobs including working for the ; and hosted a weekly radio show at KRAB-FM. Robbins said that it was in 1967, while writing a review of a Doors concert, that he found his literary voice.

In the late 1960s he moved to South Bend, Washington, where he wrote his first novel. In 1970, Robbins moved to La Conner, Washington where he has written his subsequent work. He has been married to Alexa D'Avalon since 1987. He has three sons, all from previous marriages.

Robbins has published non-fiction essays in national magazines, including and , as well as regional Seattle periodicals. His first novel, , was published in 1971.

A Bibliography of Robbins' monographs:

, photographs by Bob Peterson, designed by Don Scott: Gear Works Press, 1965. First book written by Robbins.

, Balantine, New York, 1971.

, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1976.

, Bantam, New York, 1980.

, Bantam, New York, 1984.

, Bantam, New York, 1990.

, Bantam, New York, 1994.

, Bantam, New York, 2000.

, Bantam, New York, 2003.

, Bantam, New York, 2009.

, Bantam, New York, 2005.

, edited by Liam O. Purdon and Beef Torrey, University Press of Mississippi, 2011.