{{Short description|American writer (1948–2022)}} {{Infobox writer | embed = | honorific_prefix = | name = Robert Goolrick | honorific_suffix = | image = David goolrick 7290001.jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Goolrick in Washington, D.C. | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Robert Cooke Goolrick | birth_date = {{Birth date|1948|8|4}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Cooke Goolrick of Lynchburg died April 29|url=https://www.thenews-gazette.com/content/robert-cooke-goolrick-lynchburg-died-april-29|website=The News-Gazette|date=2 May 2022|access-date=15 May 2022|archive-date=22 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122225855/https://www.thenews-gazette.com/content/robert-cooke-goolrick-lynchburg-died-april-29|url-status=dead}}</ref> | birth_place = Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2022|4|29|1948|8|4}} | death_place = Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S. | resting_place = | occupation = | language = | residence = | nationality = American | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = novels, memoir <!-- or: | genres = --> | subject = <!-- or: | subjects = --> | movement = | notableworks = <!-- or: | notablework = --> | spouse = <!-- or: | spouses = --> | partner = <!-- or: | partners = --> | children = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | years_active = | module = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.org}} --> | portaldisp = <!-- "on", "yes", "true", etc; or omit --> }}
'''Robert Cooke Goolrick''' (August 4, 1948 – April 29, 2022) was an American writer whose first novel sold more than five million copies.<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Goolrick {{!}} Bookreporter.com|url=http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/robert-goolrick|website=www.bookreporter.com|access-date=3 November 2016}}</ref>
== Biography == Robert Goolrick grew up in the 1950s in the small college town of Lexington, Virginia. His mother was a homemaker and his father a college professor, and he had two siblings. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University. When Goolrick lost his job as an advertising creative director and copywriter, he turned to memoir writing.<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Goolrick|url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/266461.Robert_Goolrick|website=www.goodreads.com|access-date=26 January 2018}}</ref> ''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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Goolrick, author of the best-seller A Reliable Wife, talks about writing as the path to something resembling peace|url=http://www.nashvillescene.com/arts-culture/article/13042276/robert-goolrick-author-of-the-bestseller-a-reliable-wife-talks-about-writing-as-the-path-to-something-resembling-peace|website=Nashville Scene|date=15 March 2012 |access-date=3 November 2016}}</ref> After years living in New York City, Goolrick returned to Virginia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shelf Awareness for Readers for Friday, June 15, 2012|url=http://www.shelf-awareness.com/readers-issue.html?issue=103#m2018|website=www.shelf-awareness.com|access-date=3 November 2016}}</ref> In 2015, he moved from Whitestone, Virginia, to Weems, Virginia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Goolrick {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/robert-goolrick/|website=Kirkus Reviews|access-date=3 November 2016|language=en-us}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Goolrick|url=https://www.facebook.com/197443205141/videos/370536268403/|website=www.facebook.com|access-date=27 January 2018|language=en}}</ref>
Robert Goolrick's books were also widely acclaimed abroad, notably in France, where he made a brilliant career and was loved both by the press and the readers. He was awarded several prestigious literary prizes there, among which the Prix Fitzgerald (for ''La chute des princes'') and the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle (for ''Arrive un vagabond'').
He died from complications related to COVID-19 in April 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Robert Goolrick, whose books explored tragedy and endurance, dies at 73|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/05/13/robert-goolrick-author-dead/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=15 May 2022}}</ref> Goolrick is buried in Old Chapel Cemetery in Millwood, Virginia, along with his ancestor, writer John Esten Cooke (1830–1886).
==Works== *2007: ''The End of the World as We Know It: Scenes from a Life'', Algonquin Books, {{ISBN|978-1565124813}} *2009: ''A Reliable Wife'', Algonquin Books, {{ISBN|978-1565125964}} *2012: ''Heading Out to Wonderful'', Algonquin Books, {{ISBN|978-1565129238}} *2015: ''The Fall of Princes'', Algonquin Books, {{ISBN|978-1616204204}} *2018: ''The Dying of the Light'', Harper, {{ISBN|978-0062678225}}
== Works translated into French == *2009: ''Une femme simple et honnête'', [« A Reliable Wife »], translation by Marie de Prémonville, Paris, Éditions Anne Carrière, 413 p. {{ISBN|978-2-84337-542-2}} *2010: ''Féroces'', [« The End of the World as We Know It: Scenes from a Life »], translated by Marie de Prémonville, {{ill|Éditions Anne Carrière|fr}}, 254 p. {{ISBN|978-2-8433-7579-8}}.<ref>{{Cite web | author = André Clavel (Lire) | title = L'autobiographie de Robert Goolrick | url = http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/feroces_927570.html-prix/20121023.OBS6686/robert-goolrick-c-est-good.html | access-date = 20 January 2017 }}</ref> *2012: ''Arrive un vagabond'', [« Heading Out to Wonderful »], translation by Marie de Prémonville, Éditions Anne Carrière, 319 p. {{ISBN|978-2-84337-681-8}} ::- Prix Laurent-Bonelli Virgin-Lire 2012 ::- Grand prix des lectrices de Elle 2013.<ref>{{Cite web | author = Claire Julliard | title = Robert Goolrick, c'est good | date = 5 June 2013 | url = http://bibliobs.nouvelobs.com/sur-le-sentier-des-prix/20121023.OBS6686/robert-goolrick-c-est-good.html | access-date = 20 January 2017 }}</ref> *2014: ''La Chute des princes'' [« The Fall of Princes »], translation by Marie de Prémonville, Éditions Anne Carrière, 360 p. {{ISBN|978-2-8433-7737-2}}.<ref>{{Cite web ::- Prix Fitzgerald 2015 | title = "La chute des princes" de Robert Goolrick: Icare au royaume du dollar | url = http://www.lexpress.fr/actualites/1/culture/la-chute-des-princes-de-robert-goolrick-icare-au-royaume-du-dollar_1575130.html | access-date = 20 January 2017 }}</ref> *2017: ''Après l’incendie'', followed by the short story ''Trois lamentations'',translation by Marie de Prémonville, Éditions Anne Carrière, 300 p. {{ISBN|978-2-84337-828-7}} *2019: ''Ainsi passe la gloire du monde'',translation by Marie de Prémonville, Éditions Anne Carrière, 191 p. {{ISBN|978-2-84337-961-1}}
== Prizes == *2013: Grand prix des lectrices de Elle for ''Arrive un vagabond (Heading Out to Wonderful)'' *2015: Prix Fitzgerald for ''La Chute des princes''
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/books/26masl.html Beautiful People, Wretched Childhood] on The New York Times * [http://www.nashvillescene.com/arts-culture/article/13042276/robert-goolrick-author-of-the-bestseller-a-reliable-wife-talks-about-writing-as-the-path-to-something-resembling-peace Robert Goolrick, author of the best-seller A Reliable Wife, talks about writing as the path to something resembling peace] on Nashville scene * [https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/robert-goolrick/ Robert Goolrick] on KirKus * [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/LIFE/usaedition/2012-06-11-Robert-Goolrick-cover_CV_U.htm Goolrick's life spins from 'tortured' to 'Wonderful'] on USA Today * [https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/266461.Robert_Goolrick Robert Goolrick > Quotes] on Goodreads * [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/07/AR2009040703559.html 'A Reliable Wife' by Robert Goolrick] on ''{Washington Post'' (8 April 2009) * [http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/robert-goolrick Robert Goolrick] on Book reporter * [http://www.bookslut.com/nonfiction/2007_06_011245.php The End of the World as We Know It: Scenes from a Life by Robert Goolrick] on bookslut.com {{Authority control}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Goolrick, Robert}} Category:1948 births Category:2022 deaths Category:21st-century American novelists Category:Novelists from Virginia Category:Writers from Charlottesville, Virginia Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia Category:People from Lexington, Virginia Category:American male novelists Category:21st-century American memoirists Category:21st-century American male writers