Gillian Hanscombe

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Gillian Hanscombe grew up in Melbourne and has lived in England since 1969. She studied English and History of Music at the University of Melbourne and at Monash University. When she moved to Britain in 1969 she completed a DPhil on the modernist writer Dorothy Richardson at the University of Oxford. She has worked in higher education, commerce and journalism, and has been an activist in various arts projects and feminist campaigns. She has a son; and since 1986 has lived with fellow poet and writer, Suniti Namjoshi in rural Devon, where, between time spent teaching, talking, touring and writing, they have produced collaborative texts in various modes, ranging from poetry, short fiction and drama, to academic prose. Gillian Hanscombe has read, lectured and workshopped in the USA, Canada, Britain and Australia. She has taught Flight of the Mind Writing Workshops in Portland, USA.

Her books and poetry include, Sybil: The Glide of Her Tongue (1992), The Interloper (1996), and Figments of a Murder (1995). In the genre of non-fiction, Rocking the Cradle: Lesbian Mothers, A Challenge in Family Living (1981, with Jackie Forster), Title Fight: The Battle for Gay News (1983, with Andrew Lumsden), The Art of Life: Dorothy Richardson and the Development of Feminist Consciousness (1982), and Writing for Their Lives: The Modernist Women, 1920-1940 (1987, with Virginia Smyers). She lives in Devon, UK.