Brad Gooch

"...a rewarding deep dive...Gooch captures the innovative, whirlwind creative spirit of the artist...Shot through with details that bring to life the tumultuous social ferment of the era, this honors the inimitable spirit of a defining figure in the art world."  

                                                  --  Publishers Weekly

The first popular biography of Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian poet revered by contemporary Western readers.

A collection of never-before-translated pems by the widely beloved medieval Persian poet.

"The author of CITY POET returns with a searing memoir of 1980s New York City in a colorful and atmospheric tale of wild bohemians, glamorous celebrities, and complicated passions, with appearances by Madonna, Robert Mapplethorpe, William Burroughs, and other legendary artists."

--Publishers Weekly

The landscape of American literature changed when Flannery O'Connor stepped onto the scene with her first published book, Wise Blood, in 1952. Her fierce, sometimes comic novels and stories reflected the darkly funny, vibrant, and theologically sophisticated woman who wrote them. Brad Gooch brings to life O'Connor's friendships and deeply felt convictions in this engaging and authoritative biography.

City Poet is the first, and will stand as the definitive biography of Frank O'Hara, the poet who was at the very heart of New York's literary and artistic life during the 1950s and 1960s.

...dynamic, snapshot prose, punctuated with a freshly observant eye for detail and cynical wit...shares a place with Bright Lights, Big City, Slaves of New York, and The Bonfire of the Vanities in the highest ranks of novels depicting the seductive pull of Manhattan nightlife.

"Gooch writes crisp, suprisingly evocative straightforward sentences, and has found a resonant, troubling metaphor for the kind of passivity and self-loathing capable of shading into the destructive recesses of sadomasochism...a successful exploration of a hapless life lived on the psychosexual razor's edge."

--Kirkus Reviews

"A solid, unblinking, unsentimental look at a vanished era. Gooch tells us everything we ever wanted to know about the dark and decadent gay subculture in Manhattan before AIDS altered the landscape."

-- Kirkus Reviews

From the author of City Poet, the brilliant biography of Frank O'Hara, now comes a fascinating account of thriving forms of spirituality in what is being called a "post-denominational" age. Brad Gooch has written a revealing, richly detailed document of our time. In Godtalk, character, dialogue, and setting come together in an irresistible, fast-paced narrative that is both engaging and informative about the unexpected nature of spirituality in America today.

"With great sensitivity, Brad Gooch addresses the mirror of relationship. This book could change many lives."

--Deepak Chopra, author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

Gooch was surprised by the success of his last book, the runaway best-seller Finding the Boyfriend Within (2002), a gay self-help book. It's no surprise, however, that its success has spawned a sequel. Gooch continues to ask gay men to look inside themselves in order to seek out what they truly desire and avoid following a self-destructive path. Inspired by Greek mythology, this book isn't about dating "gods" per se--those Adonises that seem out of reach for just about everyone. The author, instead, takes lessons from members of the Greek pantheon, together with philosopher Socrates, to illustrate archetypes that exist both within and without the person and the dating experience. Through a number of exercises, Gooch asks the reader to look both inward and outward to analyze how these archetypes affect the reader's life (positively and negatively) and encourages the reader to find a spirituality and a "voice within." Intended to guide gay men (and presumably everyone else) down the road to a happier, fulfilling life, with or without a boyfriend.

--Michael Spinella

"These stories capture the feeling of the city today or what is outside the city. They're very fine--special and illuminating. They have a color unlike that of other writing."

--James Purdy

"The Daily News shows him to be a very talented and promising new poetic voice...a very seventies vision, clearly post-John Ashberry in his understanding and extension of style-as-content theatrics into a more personal and often erotic version of thins...luminous, deeply felt."

--Dennis Cooper, Gosh!