The classic written version of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” was first recorded and published by the English poet and author Robert Southey in 1837, under the title “The Story of the Three Bears.”

Quick Scoop: Who wrote it?

  • The tale comes from older oral folk stories, so no single person “invented” it from scratch.
  • Robert Southey is widely credited as the first to publish a prose version, in his book The Doctor (1837).
  • His version did not originally feature a little girl named Goldilocks, but an old woman intruder.
  • Later adapters changed the intruder into a young girl, and eventually she gained the name “Goldilocks” in early 20th‑century retellings.

So if you need one name for “who wrote Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” the commonly accepted answer is: Robert Southey , who published the foundational text version of the story.

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