Tod Goldberg

Tod Goldberg (born January 10, 1971 in Berkeley, California) is an American author and journalist best known for his novels Gangster Nation (Counterpoint), Gangsterland (Counterpoint) and Living Dead Girl (Soho Press), the popular "Burn Notice" series (Penguin/NAL) and the short story collection The Low Desert: Gangster Stories (Counterpoint).

Tod Goldberg
Born (1971-01-10) January 10, 1971
Berkeley, California[1]
OccupationWriter, journalist
NationalityAmerican
GenreMystery fiction
SpouseWendy Duren

Early life and education

A Jewish author,[2] he graduated from Palm Springs High School in 1989. He attended California State University, Northridge earning a BA in English. In 2009, he graduated with a master's in fine arts degree in creative writing & literature from Bennington College.

Goldberg describes himself as “profoundly” dyslexic. At six years old, he was told by a doctor that he would never read or write beyond a fourth-grade level.[3]

Career

Goldberg's second novel, Living Dead Girl, was a finalist for the 2003 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best mystery and was featured as one of January Magazine's top novels of 2002. His third book, Simplify, culled stories from the past decade of his career into one volume, the first published by OV Books, the book publishing arm of the literary journal Other Voices. It received notable reviews in numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and Chicago Sun-Times and was named a 2006 finalist for the Southern California Booksellers Association Award in Fiction. His next book of short stories, Other Resort Cities, [4] was released in October 2009 by OV Books to wide acclaim, including a positive review from the Los Angeles Times.[5]

He is also the author of original novels based on the USA Network TV series Burn Notice. The novels include The Fix,[6] The End Game,[7] The Giveaway,[8] The Reformed, and The Bad Beat. In 2013, his essay "When They Let Them Bleed" was selected for Best American Essays,[9] edited by Cheryl Strayed. Counterpoint released his most recent novel, "Gangsterland" in September, 2014.[10] to rave reviews, earning starred notices in Publishers Weekly,[11] Booklist,[12] and Kirkus.[13] The novel eventually was named a finalist for the Hammett Prize, recognizing the excellence in the field of crime writing.[14]

In 2012, Goldberg, Rider Strong, and Julia Pistell started Literary Disco, a podcast about books and writing.[15] It is now part of the LitHub Radio Network and was recently named one of the top literary podcasts by the Washington Post. He is also the co-host of Open Book, along with Maggie Downs, a popular radio interview show in the Coachella Valley on KCOD-FM. In 2021, Goldberg & Downs were named finalist for the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System's Award for Best Community Volunteer Program/Personality.[16]

In 2016, he collaborated with Brad Meltzer on the novel The House of Secrets,[17] which was an instant New York Times bestseller.[18] That same year, he was awarded the Silver Pen Award by the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame,[19] which is awarded to a mid-career writer with profound ties to the state of Nevada.

His next novel, Gangster Nation,[20] was released in 2017, and continued the story of Sal Cupertine/Rabbi David Cohen from Gangsterland, picking up two years after the conclusion of Gangsterland. The book received glowing reviews in Kirkus,[21] Publishers Weekly,[22] Booklist,[23] Mystery Scene Magazine,[24] the Orange County Register,[25] and numerous other outlets. It was optioned, along with Gangsterland, by Caryn Mandabach Productions [26] and later by Amazon Studios.[27]

His next book, The Low Desert: Gangster Stories [28] will be released in February 2021 and both continues the stories of characters from Gangsterland and Gangster Nation and also expands Goldberg's gangster universe with all new characters. The book received a starred & boxed review in Publishers Weekly,[29] a starred review in Kirkus,[30] was named a top 10 book of Spring by Publishers Weekly,[31] a top 20 book of winter by USA Today,[32] and a most anticipated book of the year by CrimeReads.[33]

In addition to his fiction, Goldberg has also spent a great portion of his career as a book and cultural critic for the several weekly newspapers in Las Vegas, including the Mercury, CityLife, and the Weekly, earning five Nevada Press Association Awards,[34] USA Today,[35] the Los Angeles Times,[36] and the Los Angeles Review of Books,[37] among many others.

Personal life

He is a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside where he founded and directs the Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts.[38] Previous to that, he served as an instructor of creative writing at the University of California, Los Angeles Extension Writers' Program, where he was named Teacher of the Year in 2005. He is the brother of novelist Lee Goldberg and authors Linda Woods and Karen Dinino, as well as the nephew of true crime author and novelist Burl Barer, and the son of journalist and author Jan Curran and television broadcast journalist Alan Goldberg. He grew up in Walnut Creek, California and Palm Springs, California and currently lives in Indio, California with his wife, Wendy Duren, also a writer.

References
  1. http://www.pw.org/content/%5Btitle%5D_4527
  2. Jewish Journal: "So many authors, so little time" by Naomi Pfefferman September 14, 2006
  3. Tod Goldberg [@todgoldberg] (9 July 2019). "I'm 48, but part of me is always 6 years old, being told by a doctor that I'd never read or write above a 4th grade level […]" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 24 October 2020 – via Twitter.
  4. OV Books. pp. 200. ISBN 978-0981589992
  5. Los Angeles Times, "'Other Resort Cities' by Tod Goldberg," December 27, 2009
  6. Amazon Listing
  7. Amazon Listing
  8. The Giveaway Amazon.com page
  9. Amazon Listing
  10. Amazon Listing
  15. Christie, Josh (August 16, 2013). "The Rumpus Interview with Literary Disco". The Rumpus. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  16. "KCOD News". KCOD CoachellaFM. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  17. Listing
  19. "Nevada Writers Hall of Fame: Gailmarie Pahmeier and Willy Vlautin honored". University of Nevada, Reno. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  34. "You searched for tod goldberg". Nevada Press Association. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  35. "Search - usatoday.com". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  36. "Los Angeles Times Site Search". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  37. "Tod Goldberg". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  38. sys-admin. "Faculty". UCR Palm Desert Low Residency MFA. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
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