Brad Gooch, Author (1952 - )

Last week, on February 25th, a new biography about author Flannery O'Connor was released to enormous acclaim (from Library Journal to Vanity Fair to even O!), and it was also featured as the cover story of the March 1st New York Times Book Review with a glowing rave.

The title of the book is Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor; its author, Brad Gooch, is a native of Kingston, PA.

Brad Gooch was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania on January 31st, 1952. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia College in 1973, and he earned his Ph.D. with honors from Columbia University in 1986.

In addition to being a freelance author, Gooch is a Professor of English at William Patterson University in Wayne, NJ.

Gooch's first books were a collection of short stories titled Jailbait (published in 1984) and biographies of 1980s pop stars Hall & Oates and Billy Idol, published in 1984 and 1985, respectively.

Gooch's first novel, Scary Kisses, detailing the ups-and-down of a male model, was originally published in 1988 and reissued in 2003. Coincidentally, Gooch also worked as a model himself, most notably for a print ad campaign for Chanel's Allure. His second novel, The Golden Age of Promiscuity, published in 1996, also dealt with beautiful people in pre-AIDS downtown Manhattan. Zombie 00, a novel about sadomasochism that is partially set in Scranton, Pennsylvania, followed in 2000.

Gooch's first serious biography of a renown author was titled City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara, published in 1993. Other of his nonfiction works include 1999's Finding The Boyfriend Within and 2003's Dating the Greek God (both dealing with gay issues and relationships), and 2002's Godtalk: Travels in Spiritual America.

Gooch also regularly contributes to magazines including The Nation, Vanity Fair, American Poetry Review, Paris Review and Partisian Review.

To place a hold on Brad Gooch's latest book, the critically acclaimed Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor, click here; to read the rave for Flannery from The New York Times Book Review, click here.

You may also place holds on other Brad Gooch titles that are in the Lackawanna County Library System, including Zombie 00 (which is partially set in Scranton), Finding The Boyfriend Within, and City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara.

Merci Beaucoup to the forever-hip-and-happening Evelyn Gibbons for this reference.