Robert Goolrick


Robert Goolrick is an American writer whose first novel sold more than five million copies..

Biography

Robert Goolrick grew up in the 1950s in the small college town of Lexington, Virginia. His father was a college professor. His mother was a homemaker, and he had two siblings. When Goolrick lost his job as an advertising copywriter, he turned to memoir writing. He wrote a memoir and his parents disinherited him, so he moved to New York. The End of the World As We Know It: Scenes from a Life highlighted "the excesses and failures of both the social underpinnings of the time and his parents' inevitable alcohol-fueled decline, culminating in a devastating portrayal of the sexual abuse he suffered as a child." He sought "something resembling peace" in his writing. After years living in New York City, he returned to Virginia. In 2015 he moved from Whitestone, Virginia to Weems, Virginia. He reads from his book "A Reliable Wife" in a video posted for his Facebook followers to which he added, "For people who can't come to a bookstore, this is what I look like and what I sound like, thanks to my friend Ashraf Meer."

Works

Robert Goolrick listed his six favorite books for children: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain;
Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss;
Canada by Richard Ford;
The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn;
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson; and
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.

Prizes