Goodkind was born in 1948 and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also attended schooling in art and Catholic Catechism Instruction.
Goodkind learned early in his life that he suffered from dyslexia, a cause of constant frustration while he was in high school. He later dropped out of college and worked as a carpenter, a violin maker, and a restorer of rare and exotic artifacts and antiques. Before starting his career as a writer, Goodkind was best known for his realistic marine and wildlife paintings. In 1993, during the construction of his home on the forested Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine with his wife Jeri, he began to write his first novel, Wizard's First Rule, and his writing career was launched with its publication in 1994. In addition to his home in Maine, Goodkind and his wife built a second home in the desert southwest where he now spends the majority of his time.
The link to Goodkind's Shelfari group:
www.shelfari.com/groups/38520/aboutGoodkind's novels include the following: * Wizard's First Rule (1994)
* Stone of Tears (1995)
* Blood of the Fold (1996)
* Temple of the Winds (1997)
* Soul of the Fire (1999)
* Faith of the Fallen (2000)
* The Pillars of Creation (2002)
* Naked Empire (2003)
* Chainfire (2005)
* Phantom (2006)
* Confessor (2007)
* The Law of Nines (2009)
In addition, Goodkind wrote a novella titled Debt of Bones for the 1998 anthology Legends, edited by Robert Silverberg. The novel takes place in the Sword of Truth universe and is set a few decades before the events in the main series. In 2001, the story was published as a stand-alone book.
In June 2008, Goodkind signed a contract to publish three mainstream novels with G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Books. The first of these novels is titled The Law of Nines, and was released August 18, 2009.
