Priscilla Gilman

Priscilla Gilman is the author of The Anti-Romantic Child: A Story of Unexpected Joy (Harper, May 2011), a beautiful exploration of one woman’s expectations and hopes for her children, her family, and herself, and of the ways in which we are all capable of reimagining our lives and finding joy in the most unexpected circumstances.  The Anti-Romantic Child was excerpted in Newsweek and featured on the cover of its international edition.  A former professor of English at Yale and Vassar, with a background in the performing arts, Gilman is a captivating speaker whose warmth, dynamism, and accessibility make her highly sought-after by diverse audiences.

Gilman graduated from Yale summa cum laude and phi beta kappa, with exceptional distinction in the English major, and went on to earn her masters and Ph.D. in English and American literature at Yale. She spent two years as an assistant professor of English at Yale and four years as an assistant professor of English at Vassar College before leaving academia in 2006. She has published numerous articles and book reviews and chaired panels and lectured at literary and early childhood conferences on subjects ranging from early intervention to inclusion, the literature of compassion to creativity and criticism in Jane Austen. She has taught poetry appreciation to inmates in Resolve to Stop the Violence (RSVP), a restorative justice program in the San Bruno County jail, and to New York City public school students.  She speaks at schools and organizations all over the country, and has just joined the Huffington Post as a featured blogger on its new Huff Post Parents page.  She lives in New York City with her family.