Gail Gilliland

Gail Gilliland grew up writing stories and poems and, after getting her B.A. from UC-Berkeley in French and Italian, held various newspaper and writing jobs (including book reviews). One day in the 80s while living out in Rio Rancho with her husband and small daughter and temping at the UNM Library for extra funds, she wandered into the English Department during her lunch break to ask for a reading list for English majors, because although she had loved majoring in foreign languages, she had never thought it was the best foundation for an American writer. That was when she met Dr. James Barbour, who not only gave her a reading list, but encouraged her to apply for a master’s in English with the support of a teaching fellowship in English composition. She loved her two years at UNM, and went on for a Ph.D. in comparative literature at the University of Michigan. Her stories and poems have been in a number of literary magazines, and she has published one story collection, The Demon of Longing (Carnegie Mellon University Press) and a poetics, Being A Minor Writer (University of Iowa Press). She has recently gathered a new collection of stories that she is submitting to publishers.

To learn more about Gail's work, visit her website.