Richard Goodman is the author of French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France and The Soul of Creative Writing. He has written for the New York Times, Harvard Review, Creative Nonfiction, Commonweal, Vanity Fair, The Writer's Chronicle, The Louisville Review, Saveur, Ascent, and the Michigan Quarterly Review.

Richard has taught writing in New York for many years and was a founding member of the New York Writers Workshop. He teaches Creative Nonfiction at Spalding University’s Brief Residency MFA in Writing Program in Louisville, Kentucky. Richard travels around the country conducting workshops on writing. He is available to consult about your book, essay, story, or manuscript.

Richard's new book, A New York Memoir, will be published in August of 2010.


"So much more than an engaging memoir of New York, this is a heart laid bare. One can learn much from this man who feels tender toward cobblestones and old women, nostalgic about a daughter's childhood, frightened at the prospect of dying alone—a rare individual who, with honesty, sensuousness, and keen observation, turns yearning and remembrance into art."
—Susan Vreeland, author of Luncheon at the Boating Party and Girl in Hyacinth Blue

Richard Goodman interviewed by Fine Books & Collections Magazine editor Rebecca Rego Barry about A New York Memoir

Buy A New York Memoir

Selected Works

Nonfiction
French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France

"I possess a deep prejudice against anything written by Anglo-Saxons about their lives in or near French villages. So, Richard, I thank you for breaking the spell. I like very much what you wrote."
–M.F.K. Fisher

"French Dirt is one of the most charming, perceptive and subtle books ever written about the French by an American."
–San Francisco Chronicle

"Goodman borrows a plot of land on which to grow a garden, a project that his neighbors view first with curiosity, then with sympathy and a deepening sense of involvement. There's a genuine sweetness about the way the cucumbers and tomatoes bridge the divide of nationality."
-Francine Prose, New York Times

The Soul of Creative Writing

Check out The Soul of Creative Writing’s Facebook page for ongoing writing exercises and other good writing ideas.

"Richard Goodman’s marvelous book, The Soul of Creative Writing, will instruct, delight, edify, challenge, reassure, and guide any student of writing to a personal best."
–Molly Peacock, author of Cornucopia: New & Selected Poems

"Richard Goodman is one of the most generous and astute literary guides I've read. This book is a gift to writers."
–Rebecca Walker, author of Black, White and Jewish

"This book is not just for writers then, but for lovers of words and writing. For renewing my excitement about what I've chosen to do for a living, this book deserves thirteen exclamation marks".
–Stephanie Dickison, The Writer

Quick Links

Richard interviewed by writer Necee Regis about A New York Memoir
Richard interviewed by poet Jeanie Thompson for Alabama Public Radio
Richard interviewed by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer for Kentucky Public Radio.
Richard interviewed by Derek Alger of Pif Magazine
Find Authors