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We talk with Brad Gooch about his acclaimed new biography of Keith Haring, RADIANT: The Life and Line of Keith Haring. Then we listen back to a clip of Gooch talking with us in 2017 about his biography, Rumi’s Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

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Key words: biography, Keith Haring, Rumi, Brad Gooch, podcast, author interview, history, book show

Keith Haring: Breaking Barriers

In the 1980s, the subways of New York City were covered with art. In the stations, black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads, and unsigned chalk drawings often popped up on these blank spaces.

These temporary chalk drawings numbered in the thousands and became synonymous with a city as diverse as it was at war with itself, beset with poverty and crime but alive with art and creative energy. And every single one of those drawings was done by Keith Haring.

Haring was one of the most emblematic artists of the 1980s. Part of an iconic cultural crowd that included Andy Warhol, Madonna, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Haring broke down the barriers between high art and popular culture, creating work that was accessible for all and using it as a means to provoke and inspire radical social change.

Haring died of AIDS in 1990. To this day, his influence on our culture remains.

RADIANT: Brad Gooch’s Definitive Biography of Haring

Brad Gooch’s biography of Keith Haring, Radiant, brings Haring’s brilliant but tragically short life to light, painting a vivid picture of the life and times of his subject. Gooch was granted access to Haring’s extensive archive to write a biography that will become the authoritative work on the artist.

About the Author

Brad Gooch is a poet, novelist, and biographer. In addition to Radiant and Rumi’s Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love (we play an excerpt from our 2017 interview with Gooch about Rumi’s Secret) he’s the author of biographies of Flannery O’Connor and Frank O’Hara; as well as several other works, including memoir, poetry and fiction.