An author who moved to Solano County from San Francisco will be reading some of his writing at Bookshop Benicia on March 22.

Wayne Goodman said he moved to Vallejo 12 years ago because of that city’s performing arts scene — he’s also a musician, and favors playing “Gilded Age” songs, though his interest in performing took him beyond the parlor piano.

“Most of my work was with Vallejo Music Theatre, and I was in the midst of directing a production when they lost their building last year,” Goodman said.

The music company and other community and arts operations had to move when the Vallejo Plaza lease of the Fetterly Playhouse for the Arts expired about a year ago.

But Goodman has had a long-time interest in writing, too, he said. Along with Jeff Kingman, he led several creative writing workshops at John F. Kennedy Library in Vallejo.

His partner, Richard May, organizes Word Week, an annual literary festival in the San Francisco Noe Valley neighborhood. That event celebrates words that are spoken, written and sung.

Goodman’s contribution to that event this year is the addition of Word Wit, a comedy night that will highlight the humor of Marilyn Pittman, Michael Capozzola and Tom Ammiano, the politician who began as a stand-up comic.

The author is host of the event, which will be at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Caskhouse, 3853 24th St., San Francisco.

Benicians and visitors to this city will have the chance to hear Goodman read from “The Last Great Hope,” his third complete book, at Bookshop Benicia later this month.

“My previous work, ‘Britain’s Glory,’ which chronicles the life of Princess Charlotte, granddaughter of George III, has been available on Kindle for a few years now,” he said.

Most of his other creative writing has been poetry, songs and short stories, though he also has written three full-length musicals that have been performed in public.

Goodman took a few creative writing classes as an undergraduate at San Francisco State University. After he became a psychiatric nurse, he began leading activity groups for patients, and that led to his using his creative writing training as an exercise.

“I continued to develop my ideas through my nursing career, and then brought my experiences to the Vallejo Public Library a few years back,” the author said.

“When giving a book reading, I enjoy discussing the creative process. That is what I want to hear about when I attend another author’s event.”

He said he selects his readings based on what he thinks would encourage listeners to buy his book, “without giving away too much.”

He said he also hopes to have time to talk about self-publishing.

“Now that I have a few titles going, I would like to be able to help others with their book projects,” he said.

While Goodman said he isn’t an expert in reading at bookstores, “I have certainly enjoyed browsing over the years, and can spend quite a bit of time in one,” he said. He particularly enjoys poring over used books.

“Bookstores can provide more services than just selling books, and I look forward to the day Vallejo can support a store such as Christine has been able to maintain in Benicia,” he said of Bookshop Benicia’s owner, Christine Mayall.

Goodman’s reading is free and open to the public. It will start at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 22, at Bookshop Benicia, 636 First St.