Tod Goldberg (born January 10, 1971 in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
) is an American author and journalist best known for his novels ''Gangsters Don't Die'' (Counterpoint),''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).
Early life and education
A
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
author, he graduated from
Palm Springs High School
Palm Springs High School is a public high school for grades 9 through 12 located in Palm Springs, California as part of the Palm Springs Unified School District. It was built in 1938 in an effort led by city pioneer Nellie Coffman.
Athletics
Pal ...
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
Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
.
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.
Career
Goldberg's second novel, ''Living Dead Girl'', was a finalist for the 2003 ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' Book Prize for best mystery and was featured as one of ''January Magazines 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
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'', ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' and ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...
'' and was named a 2006 finalist for the Southern California Booksellers Association Award in Fiction. His next book of short stories, ''Other Resort Cities,'' was released in October 2009 by
OV Books Other Voices, Inc. is a non-profit literary press encompassing ''Other Voices'' literary magazine and the fiction imprint OV Books.
''Other Voices'' magazine
Established in 1984, ''Other Voices'' was a "fiction-focused magazine ... dedicated to pu ...
to wide acclaim, including a positive review from the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''.
He is also the author of original novels based on the USA Network TV series ''
Burn Notice''. The novels include ''The Fix'', ''The End Game'', ''The Giveaway'', ''The Reformed'', and ''The Bad Beat''. In 2013, his essay "When They Let Them Bleed" was selected for Best American Essays, edited by Cheryl Strayed. Counterpoint published ''Gangsterland'' in September 2014 to rave reviews, earning starred notices in ''Publishers Weekly'', ''Booklist'', and ''Kirkus''. The novel was named a finalist for the Hammett Prize, recognizing the excellence in the field of crime writing.
In 2012, Goldberg,
Rider Strong
Rider King Strong (born December 11, 1979) is an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter. He is best known for starring as Shawn Hunter on the ABC sitcom ''Boy Meets World'' (1993–2000), which he reprised in its sequel series ''Girl ...
, and Julia Pistell started ''Literary Disco'', a podcast about books and writing.
It is now part of th
LitHub Radio Networkand was recently named one of the top literary podcasts by th
He is also the co-host o
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.
In 2016, he collaborated with
Brad Meltzer
Brad Meltzer (born April 1, 1970) is an American novelist, non-fiction writer, TV show creator, and comic book author. His novels touch on the political thriller, legal thriller and conspiracy fiction genres, while he has also written superher ...
on the novel ''The House of Secrets'', also an instant ''New York Times'' bestseller. That same year, he was awarded the Silver Pen Award by the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame, which is awarded to a mid-career writer with profound ties to the state of Nevada.
His next novel, ''Gangster Nation'', released in 2017, continued the story of Sal Cupertine/Rabbi David Cohen, picking up two years after ''Gangsterland''
's conclusion. The book received glowing reviews in ''Kirkus'', ''Publishers Weekly'', ''Booklist'', ''Mystery Scene Magazine'', the Orange County ''Register'', and numerous other outlets. Both novels were optioned by Caryn Mandabach Productions and later by Amazon Studios.
''The Low Desert: Gangster Stories'', a "Gangster Universe" anthology, introduces new characters and revisits those from ''Gangsterland'' and ''Gangster Nation.'' It received a starred and boxed review in ''Publishers Weekly'', a starred review in Kirkus, a rave review in the ''Los Angeles Times'', was named a top 10 book of Spring by ''Publishers Weekly'', a top 20 book of winter by ''USA Today'', and a most anticipated book of the year by CrimeReads.
In 2023, he'll release ''Gangsters Don't Die,'' the concluding volume in the Gangsterland trilogy.
In addition to his fiction, Goldberg has served as a book and cultural critic for several weekly newspapers in Las Vegas, including the ''Mercury,'' ''CityLife,'' and ''The Weekly'', earning five Nevada Press Association Awards. He has also written for USA Today, the ''Los Angeles Times'', and the ''Los Angeles Review of Books'', among many others.
Personal life
He is a professor of
creative writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...
at the
University of California, Riverside
The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...
where he founded and directs the
Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts.
Previously, as an instructor of creative writing at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
Extension Writers' Program, he was named Teacher of the Year in 2005. He is the brother of
''New York Times'' bestselling novelist and TV writer/producer
Lee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and producer known for his bestselling novels ''Lost Hills'' and ''True Fiction'' and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including '' Diagnosis: Murder'', ''A Nero Wolfe M ...
and authors Linda Woods and Karen Dinino, as well as the nephew of
true crime
True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events.
The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...
author and novelist
Burl Barer
Burl Barer (born 1947 in Walla Walla, Washington) is an American author, literary historian and radio host. He is best known for his writings about the character Simon Templar.
Career
Fiction
''The Saint''
''The Saint: A Complete History in ...
, and the son of journalist and author Jan Curran and television broadcast journalist Alan Goldberg. He grew up in
Walnut Creek, California
Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek s ...
and
Palm Springs, California and currently lives in
Indio, California with his wife, Wendy Duren, also a writer.
References
External links
Tod Goldberg's Official WebsiteTod Goldberg's BlogOV Books PageInterviewin ''
SmokeLong Quarterly''
Short Story"This Is What You Left Behind" in ''
SmokeLong Quarterly''
Review''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' Review of ''Other Resort Cities''
''Jewish Journal'': "So Many Authors, So Little Time"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Tod
1971 births
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
Jewish American writers
Living people
Writers from Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs High School people
People from La Quinta, California
21st-century American male writers
Novelists from California
21st-century American Jews