Natalie Goldberg

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- Born
- 1948 · Brooklyn.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- writer · novelist · docent
In this article
Key facts
• Name — Natalie Goldberg • Born — 1948 1 4 • Birthplace — Brooklyn, New York, U.S. • Occupation — Writer, teacher, Zen practitioner Natalie Goldberg (born January 4, 1948) is an American popular author and speaker. She is best known for a series of books which explore writing as Zen practice.
Life
Goldberg has studied Zen Buddhism for more than thirty years and practiced with Dainin Katagiri Roshi for six years. Goldberg is a teacher who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her 1986 book Writing Down the Bones sold over two million copies and is considered an influential work on the craft of writing. Her 2013 book, The True Secret of Writing, is a follow-up to that work.
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1948
Natalie Goldberg was born on 4 January 1948.
Books
• Chicken and in Love (1979), • Writing Down the Bones (1986), • Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life (1990) • Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America (1993) • Banana Rose (1995) • Living Color: A Writer Paints Her World (1997) • Thunder and Lightning (2000) • The Essential Writer's Notebook (2001) • Top of My Lungs (2002) • The Great Failure (2004) • Old Friend From Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir (2008), • The True Secret of Writing (2013) • The Great Spring: Writing, Zen, and This Zigzag Life (2016), • Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home: A Memoir (2018), • Three Simple Lines: A Writer's Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku (2021), • Writing Down the Bones Deck: 60 Cards to Free the Writer Within (2021), • Writing on Empty: A Guide to Finding Your Voice (2024),
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Natalie Goldberg, revision 1373098022 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1966159: Natalie Goldberg
Unverified · Wikidata
reference work
- “Natalie Goldberg”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority record
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
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