Francisco Goldman
Encyclopedia
Francisco Goldman is an American
novel
ist, journalist
, and Allen K. Smith Professor of Literature and Creative Writing, Trinity College
. He is workshop director at Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), the journalism school for Latin-America created by Gabriel García Márquez
. Goldman is also known as Francisco Goldman Molina, "Frank" and "Paco".
n Catholic mother and Jewish-American father.
Goldman attended Hobart College, the University of Michigan and the New School for Social Research Seminar College, and studied translation at New York University. He has taught at Columbia University
in the MFA program; Brooklyn College
; the Institute of New Journalism (founded by Gabriel Garcia Marquez) in Cartagena, Colombia; Mendez Pelayo Summer Institute in Santander, Spain; the North American Institute in Barcelona, Spain. He has been a resident of UCross Foundation. Francisco Goldman was rewarded the Mary Ellen von der Heyden fellowship for Fiction and was spring 2010 Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin
.
He currently resides in Mexico City
and Brooklyn, New York
.
and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, and his second, The Ordinary Seaman (1997), was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and The Los Angeles Times
Book Prize, and was short-listed
for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
.
In November 2007, he acted as guest-fiction editor for Guernica Magazine
. "The Ordinary Seaman" was named one of the 100 Best American Books of the Century by The Hungry Mind Review. He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1998 and of a New York Public Library
Center for Scholars and Writers Fellowship in 2000-2001. His books have been translated and published in a total of eleven languages worldwide. In the 1980s, he covered the wars in Central America as a contributing editor to Harper's magazine.
Goldman's 2007 book The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop? is a nonfiction account of the assassination of Guatemala
n Catholic Bishop Juan José Gerardi Conedera
, a crime perpetrated by the Guatemalan military. The book, an expansion on what began as an article in The New Yorker
represents the culmination of years of journalistic investigation. It was a New York Times Notable Book, and a Best Book of the Year at Washington Post Book World, The Economist, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Daily News. While the book has been widely acclaimed, to some degree a predictable disinformation campaign of exactly the kind described in the book itself has been waged against it. A new afterword in the paperback edition, rebuts them. The book is the winner of the 2008 TR Fyvel Freedom of Expression Book Award from the Index on Censorship
and of the 2008 Duke University-WOLA (Washington Office on Latin America) Human Rights Book Prize. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Golden Dagger Award in non-fiction
and for the inaugural Warwick Prize for Writing
.
accident in Mexico in 2007. Goldman documents his wife's death, as well as his relationship with her, in the story "The Wave" for the February 7, 2011 edition of The New Yorker. He has also established a prize in her honor, The Aura Estrada Prize, to be given every two years to a female writer, 35 or under, who writes in Spanish and lives in the USA or Mexico.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist, journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, and Allen K. Smith Professor of Literature and Creative Writing, Trinity College
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Trinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...
. He is workshop director at Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), the journalism school for Latin-America created by Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
. Goldman is also known as Francisco Goldman Molina, "Frank" and "Paco".
Life
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a GuatemalaGuatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n Catholic mother and Jewish-American father.
Goldman attended Hobart College, the University of Michigan and the New School for Social Research Seminar College, and studied translation at New York University. He has taught at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in the MFA program; Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
; the Institute of New Journalism (founded by Gabriel Garcia Marquez) in Cartagena, Colombia; Mendez Pelayo Summer Institute in Santander, Spain; the North American Institute in Barcelona, Spain. He has been a resident of UCross Foundation. Francisco Goldman was rewarded the Mary Ellen von der Heyden fellowship for Fiction and was spring 2010 Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin
American Academy in Berlin
The American Academy in Berlin is a research and cultural institution in Berlin whose stated mission is to foster a greater understanding and dialogue between the people of the United States and the people of Germany.The American Academy was founded in September 1994 by a group of prominent...
.
He currently resides in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
.
Career
His first novel, The Long Night of White Chickens (1992), won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First FictionSue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
The Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction is awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The $5,000 prize is given for the best published first novel or collection of short stories in the preceding year...
and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, and his second, The Ordinary Seaman (1997), was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
Book Prize, and was short-listed
Short list
A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates . The length of short lists varies according to the context.-U.S...
for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...
.
In November 2007, he acted as guest-fiction editor for Guernica Magazine
Guernica Magazine
Guernica / A Magazine of Art and Politics is a biweekly online site that publishes art and photography, fiction, and poetry, from around the world, along with nonfiction such as letters from abroad, investigative pieces and opinion pieces on international affairs and U.S. domestic policy...
. "The Ordinary Seaman" was named one of the 100 Best American Books of the Century by The Hungry Mind Review. He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1998 and of a New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
Center for Scholars and Writers Fellowship in 2000-2001. His books have been translated and published in a total of eleven languages worldwide. In the 1980s, he covered the wars in Central America as a contributing editor to Harper's magazine.
Goldman's 2007 book The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop? is a nonfiction account of the assassination of Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n Catholic Bishop Juan José Gerardi Conedera
Juan José Gerardi Conedera
Monsignor Juan José Gerardi Conedera was a Guatemalan Roman Catholic bishop and human rights defender who was beaten to death two days after releasing a report on victims of the Guatemalan Civil War.-Early life:...
, a crime perpetrated by the Guatemalan military. The book, an expansion on what began as an article in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
represents the culmination of years of journalistic investigation. It was a New York Times Notable Book, and a Best Book of the Year at Washington Post Book World, The Economist, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Daily News. While the book has been widely acclaimed, to some degree a predictable disinformation campaign of exactly the kind described in the book itself has been waged against it. A new afterword in the paperback edition, rebuts them. The book is the winner of the 2008 TR Fyvel Freedom of Expression Book Award from the Index on Censorship
Index on Censorship
Index on Censorship is a campaigning publishing organisation for freedom of expression, which produces an award-winning quarterly magazine of the same name from London. The present chief executive of Index on Censorship, since 2008, is the author, broadcaster and commentator John Kampfner, former...
and of the 2008 Duke University-WOLA (Washington Office on Latin America) Human Rights Book Prize. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Golden Dagger Award in non-fiction
CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction is a British literary award established in 1978 by the Crime Writers' Association, who have awarded the Gold Dagger fiction award since 1955....
and for the inaugural Warwick Prize for Writing
Warwick Prize for Writing
The Warwick Prize for Writing is an international cross-disciplinary prize, worth £50,000, that will be given biennially for an excellent and substantial piece of writing in the English language, in any genre or form, on a theme that will change with every award. It was launched and sponsored by...
.
Family
Goldman's wife, Aura Estrada, died in a bodysurfingBodysurfing
Bodysurfing is the art and sport of riding a wave without the assistance of any buoyant device such as a surfboard or bodyboard. Bodysurfers typically equip themselves only with a pair of specialized swimfins that stay on during turbulent conditions and optimize propulsion.-Technique:To get on the...
accident in Mexico in 2007. Goldman documents his wife's death, as well as his relationship with her, in the story "The Wave" for the February 7, 2011 edition of The New Yorker. He has also established a prize in her honor, The Aura Estrada Prize, to be given every two years to a female writer, 35 or under, who writes in Spanish and lives in the USA or Mexico.
Works
- The Long Night of White Chickens (1992). Grove Atlantic Press, New York; Faber&Faber, London.
- The Ordinary Seaman (1997). Grove Atlantic Press, New York; Faber& Faber, London.
- The Divine Husband (2004). Grove Atlantic Press (US and UK).
- The Art of Political Murder: Who killed the Bishop? (2007). Grove Press (US and UK). Non-fiction.
- Say Her Name (2011). Grove Press Press (US and UK).
Selected journalism. criticism and short fiction
- The New Yorker; New York Times Sunday Magazine; New York Review of Books; Book Forum; Esquire; Bomb
- In Mexico: Letras Libres; Gatopardo; Equis.
- Prologue to The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll, by Alvaro Mutis, published by New York Review of Books Classics, 2003.
- "Murder Comes for the Bishop", The New Yorker, March 15, 1999.
- "The Great Bolaño", The New York Times Review of Books, July 19, 2007.
- "Chapter 1: I Drank the Water", New York Times, June 27, 2007.
- "THE THOROUGHLY DESIGNED AMERICAN CHILDHOOD; A Robot For the Masses", November 28, 2004.
- "In The Shadow Of The Patriarch", New York Times, November 2, 2003.
- "Guatemala's Fictional Democracy", New York Times, November 3, 2003.
- "The Autumn of the Revolutionary", New York Times, August 23, 1998.
- "In Guatemala, All Is Forgotten", New York Times, December 23, 1996
- "In a Terrorized Country", New York Times, April 17, 1995.
- "Ending Up in Downsville", (book review) New York Times, June 20, 1993.
- "Poetry and Power in Nicaragua", New York Times, March 29, 1987.
- Four Op-ed pieces in the New York Times, and two in the Los Angeles Times.
Anthologized
- “Mexico DF” in the Beacon Press Best of 2001.
- ”Moro like Me” in Half and Half: Writers on Growing up Biracial and Bicultural.
Translations
- Two short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Playboy Magazine, one of which, “The Trail of your *Blood in the Snow,” won that year’s National Magazine Award for fiction.
Interviews
- "Susan Choi Talks with Francisco Goldman", The Believer, August 2004.
- Francisco Goldman talks to Semi Chellas", Brick: A Literary Journal, Winter 2004 (Issue 74).
- "Literary Guisado: An Interview with Francisco Goldman" by Marion Winik, The Austin Chronicle, June 6, 1997.
- Francisco Goldman discusses his new book "The Divine Husband", NPR Morning Edition, October 27, 2004.
- Interview with Francisco Goldman by Whit Coppedge, Pif Magazine, October 30, 2008.
External links
- Francisco Goldman's Official Web Site
- Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
- Video: Truth and Reconciliation: A National Reckoning PEN World Voices at LIVE from the New York Public Library May 4, 2008
- http://www.kwls.org/podcasts/francisco_goldman_on_jos_mart/Lecture by Goldman on José MartíJosé MartíJosé Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...
's years in New York (1878-1895), from the Key West Literary Seminar, 2004] - Essay, "Six Stories Guest-Edited by Francisco Goldman"
- American Academy in Berlin http://www.americanacademy.de