Robert Goolrick


Robert Cooke Goolrick was 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 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. 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, Goolrick 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."
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 and the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle.
He died from complications related to COVID-19 in April 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia. Goolrick is buried in Old Chapel Cemetery in Millwood, Virginia, along with his ancestor, writer John Esten Cooke.

Works

  • 2007: The End of the World as We Know It: Scenes from a Life, Algonquin Books,
  • 2009: A Reliable Wife, Algonquin Books,
  • 2012: Heading Out to Wonderful, Algonquin Books,
  • 2015: The Fall of Princes, Algonquin Books,
  • 2018: The Dying of the Light, Harper,

    Works translated into French

  • 2009: Une femme simple et honnête, , translation by Marie de Prémonville, Paris, Éditions Anne Carrière, 413 p.
  • 2010: Féroces, , translated by Marie de Prémonville,, 254 p..
  • 2012: Arrive un vagabond, , translation by Marie de Prémonville, Éditions Anne Carrière, 319 p.
  • 2014: La Chute des princes , translation by Marie de Prémonville, Éditions Anne Carrière, 360 p..
  • 2017: Après l’incendie, followed by the short story Trois lamentations,translation by Marie de Prémonville, Éditions Anne Carrière, 300 p.
  • 2019: Ainsi passe la gloire du monde,translation by Marie de Prémonville, Éditions Anne Carrière, 191 p.

    Prizes

  • 2013: Grand prix des lectrices de Elle for Arrive un vagabond
  • 2015: Prix Fitzgerald for ''La Chute des princes''