William Todd Schultz Ph.D.

William Todd Schultz is a Professor of Psychology and a writer. He's published three books, each a psychologically-focused study of a complex artist: Tiny Terror: Why Truman Capote Almost Wrote Answered Prayers(2011, Oxford); An Emergency in Slow Motion: The Inner Life of Diane Arbus(2011, Bloomsbury); and Torment Saint: The Life of Elliott Smith(2013, Bloomsbury). In 2005, Schultz conceptualized and edited Oxford's groundbreaking Handbook of Psychobiography. Schultz also wrote five chapters for the book, three on psychobiographical method, two on Diane Arbus and Sylvia Plath. Presently, Schultz curates and edits Oxford's Inner LivesSeries. Five titles have appeared so far, books on George W. Bush, John Lennon, Truman Capote, Philip K. Dick, and Bob Dylan. In his 25-year career Schultz has published book chapters or articles on Jack Kerouac, Roald Dahl, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Kathryn Harrison, James Agee, Sylvia Plath, Oscar Wilde, and others, as well as several book reviews. He's written for Huffington Post, Slate, Salon, Poetry Foundation, the Spectator, Seattle Weekly, and Bookish, and he blogs for Psychology Today.

Reviews of Schultz's books have appeared in the LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Bookforum, the Daily Beast, Vogue, The Advocate, NPR, The Economist, the Guardian, Brain Pickings, Mojo, Paste, and other high profile venues (see williamtoddschultz.com for complete details). In 2013, Torment Saintwas released to nearly universal high acclaim, and was noted on several lists of top music books of the year (for instance, Buzzfeed and NME). Schultz has been featured in dozens of radio interviews, both in the States and in Europe.

Schultz's more recent work includes a chapter on psychobiography and genius for the Handbook of Genius(July, 2014), a profile of Peaches Geldof for London's Spectatormagazine (June, 2014; the piece was summarized or reported on by more than 75 outlets, from The Guardianto MTV), an essay on the 20thanniversary of Elliott Smith’s “Roman Candle” record for Salon.com (July 14, 2014), an article on psychobiography for Britain’s The Psychologistmagazine (2016), a scholarly overview of psychobiography theory and method for the American Psychologist(2017), and an interview with poet Craig Morgan Teicher for Poetry Foundation(2018).

In 2015, Schultz was awarded the Erikson Prize for Mental Health Media, along with Alison Bechdel and the Washington Post’sStephanie McCrummen. From 2016-2017, he was a Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas.