Thomas Thorspecken's
watercolor of Richard
Goodman lecturing at the
Jack Kerouac House in
Orlando, Florida, March 21,
2009.

Recent Appearances

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Writing Workshop, February 20, 2010 in Auburn, Alabama.

The Writer's Loft Orientation Weekend. Featured author, January 15-16, 2010 at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Lecture at the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando. Gave a lecture on William Burroughs' influence on Jack Kerouac at the Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida, Saturday, March 21, 2009.

South Carolina Book Festival. Gave a Master Class, partcipated in a panel about reading and writing, and gave a reading. Columbia, SC, February 27-March 1, 2009.

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