Burroughs, Augusten: - Augusten Burroughs has been an advertising copywriter since the age of 19. Augusten's father is the head of the Philosophy Department at University of Massachusetts. He describes his mother as a 'mad lesbian poet of the Anne Sexton generation.' Burroughs never completed any formal education after the third grade. He's held jobs as a dog trainer and a candy-store clerk (fired for stealing) and failed as a male model. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling Running with Scissors and Sellevision. He lives in New York City.