Robert Fulghum

Robert Fulghum

Robert Lee Fulghum, born in 1937, is an American author and Unitarian Universalist minister. He grew up in Waco, Texas, then earned a Bachelor of Arts from Baylor University in 1958. In 1961 he received a Bachelor of Divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry and was ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister. Before his name became widely known to readers, his public life was rooted in ministry, teaching, speaking, and close attention to ordinary human experience.

Fulghum served the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship in Bellingham, Washington, from 1960 to 1964. He later served the Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Church in Edmonds, Washington, where he is Minister Emeritus. That background helps explain the shape of much of his writing: short reflections, everyday scenes, and practical observations about how people live with one another. His best-known subtitle, “Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things,” neatly describes the field he returned to again and again.

Fulghum came to prominence in the United States with his first collection, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, published in 1988. The book stayed on The New York Times bestseller lists for nearly two years and became the work most closely associated with his name. A twenty-fifth anniversary edition later updated and revised the original text and included twenty-five new stories. Across his career, more than 17 million copies of his books have been in print, published in 27 languages in 103 countries.

His essay collections include It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It, Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door, Maybe (Maybe Not), From Beginning to End—The Rituals of Our Lives, True Love, Words I Wish I Wrote, What on Earth Have I Done, and The Ongoing Adventures of Captain Kindergarten. He also wrote a three-volume novel: Third Wish, followed by Third Wish II, The Rest of the Story, Almost, and completed with Third Wish, Granted. Another novel, If You Love Me Still, Will You Love Me Moving? Tales from the Century Ballroom, grew out of his love of dancing, especially tango, and first appeared in Czech in 2011.

Fulghum’s work also moved beyond the page. He performed in two PBS television adaptations of his writing and was a Grammy nominee for the spoken word award. He has spoken at colleges, conventions, and public events across the United States and Europe, and he has been a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His essays were adapted into two stage productions, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas, with more than 2,000 national and international productions to date. Fulghum has been married three times, has four children and six grandchildren, and lives in Moab, Utah, and on the Greek island of Crete. His words still speak to readers because they begin with familiar moments and ask what those moments can teach.