Robert Girardi

Robert Girardi (born November 18, 1961) is an American writer of mystery fiction and detective stories.

Early life and education

Girardi was born in on November 18, 1961, in Springfield, Virginia, and educated in Catholic schools in Europe. He majored in studio art at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia and was first published during his undergraduate years in the ''Virginia Literary Review''. After briefly attending the Graduate Film School of the University of Southern California, he transferred to the University of Iowa. He graduated from the Iowa Writer's Workshop at the university with an Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction writing in 1986. He also received the James Mitchener Fellowship in 1989.

Career

Girardi worked at numerous odd jobs, writing seven unpublished novels and several unproduced screenplays, before the publication of '' Madeleine's Ghost'' in 1995. An editor for Delacorte Press found the manuscript on a friend's coffee table and fell in love with the story. "If I hadn't been published, I would have gone mad. I was getting very bitter. I don't know what I would have done. I would probably have joined the priesthood."

''Madeleine's Ghost'' was followed by novels ''Vaporetto 13'' and '' The Pirate's Daughter'', a collection of novellas and short stories titled '' A Vaudeville of Devils: Seven Moral Tales'', and an autobiographical piece for the '' Washingtonian'' about his 'spooky' upbringing. He returned to Hollywood with his teleplays for ''Judging Amy'' in 2001 and ''Joan of Arcadia'' in 2004. Barbara Hall, an old friend, named the family in ''Joan of Arcadia'' "Girardi" after him. A film adaptation of ''Vaporetto 13'' was optioned by Warner/Di Novi, and in 2003, Roland Joffé was ready to start filming his novella "Sunday Evenings at Contessa Pasquali's"; neither film was made."Publish or Parish: Why Is Novelist Robert Girardi Cleaning His Church?"
''The Washington City Paper'', Mike Riggs, May. 19, 2010

Girardi returned to mystery fiction in 2002 with '' The Wrong Doyle'', published by small British imprint Sceptre. After Bertelsmann acquired Random House in 1998, Girardi's usual imprint Delacorte was repositioned as a young readers' imprint, and his books went out of print. Girardi was the Spring 2008 writer-in-residence at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland His manuscripts are held at Georgetown University.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Madeleine's Ghost'', Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 1995.
*'' The Pirate's Daughter: A Novel of Adventure'', Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 1997.
*''Vaporetto 13: A Novel'', Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 1997.
*''A Vaudeville of Devils: Seven Moral Tales'', Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 1999.
*'' The Wrong Doyle'', Sceptre (London, England), 2002, Justin, Charles (Boston, MA), 2004.
*'' Gorgeous East'', St. Martin's Press, October 13, 2009,

Magazine articles and short stories

*"Nose Job", '' The New Republic'' (November 13, 1995)
*"The Dinner Party", '' TriQuarterly'', Issue 99 (Spring/Summer 1997)
*"Spooks on the Roof", ''Washingtonian'' (April 2000)

Teleplays

*"Imbroglio", ''Judging Amy'', (2001)
*"Vanity, Thy Name is Human", ''Joan of Arcadia'' (First Aired 5/07/2004)

See also

*List of Catholic authors

References

External links

WorldCat listing
After several years and several attempts to sell excellent but ultimately unsuccessful novels to New York publishers, Girardi gave up on fiction entirely and began publishing non-fiction history under the pseudonym of Robert Gaudi--so named after the famous Catalan architect, Antonio Gaudi. His two efforts AFRICAN KAISER--Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck and the Great War in Africa 1914-1918 (2017) and The War of Jenkins Ear, the Forgotten Struggle for North and South America, 1739-1742 were met with great critical acclaim but, alas, poor sales. Girardi currently sells tickets at Landmark Bethesda Row a movie theater in Bethesda, Maryland and is available for any kind of ghost writing you might have in mind. His e-mail address is available on book jackets or he can be reached at 202 215-7039.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girardi, Robert
1961 births
Living people
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
People from Springfield, Virginia
University of Iowa alumni
University of Virginia alumni
Novelists from Virginia
Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers